Banksia is a genus of evergreen shrubs and trees that belong to the Proteaceae family. The genus is named for Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), the renowned English botanist who first documented the plants on his travels around Australia with Captain Cook.
Banksias are prominent for their attractive, cone-shaped spikes. The elongated flower spikes are actually made up of dense clusters of hundreds even thousands of small, individual flowers.In the center, the flower spikes consist of a woody axis covered in tightly-packed pairs of flowers attached at all angles. The colors of the flower heads are usually in yellow, orange, pink, red and violet. Heavy producers of nectar, banksias are an important food source for all sorts of nectarivorous animals, including birds, bats, rats, possums, stingless bees and a host of invertebrates.
The leaves of Banksias vary greatly in size from 1–1½ centimetre long needle-like leaves to the very large leaves, which may be up to 45 centimeters long. The leaves of most species have serrated edges. Leaves are usually arranged along the branches in irregular spirals, but in some species they are crowded together in whorls. Many species have differing juvenile and adult leaves.
As the flower spikes age, they develop into large, woody fruits (follicles) which resemble cones, although they are not technically cones according to the botanical definition of the term: cones only occur in conifers and cycads. The fruits protect the seeds from foraging animals and from fire. In some species the follicles open as soon as the seed is mature, but in most species, the fruits will not open until they have been burnt or completely dried out.
