Banksia aurantia


Banksia aurantia, commonly known as the orange dryandra, is a shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has underground stems, deeply divided leaves with 18 to 28 lobes on each sides, about eighty pale orange-pink flowers in each inflorescence, and egg-shaped follicles.

Description

Banksia aurantia is a prostrate shrub that has underground stems and reaches a height of. The leaves are long and wide and deeply divided with 18 to 28 tapering, linear lobes on each side and prominent veins on the lower surface. The inflorescence develops on the end of the stem, with about eighty flowers with hairy, rusty red, egg-shaped to lance-shaped bracts at the base, the perianth pale orange-pink and long. Flowering occurs in April and the fruit is a broadly egg-shaped follicle long and wide.

Taxonomy

The orange dryandra was first described as Dryandra aurantia in 1996 by Alex George, who collected the type material with Margaret Pieroni on 26 April 1994 at Little Darkin Swamp southwest of York. CALM worker Len Talbot had discovered the species in 1991. It was transferred to the genus Banksia by Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele in 2007 when Dryandra was sunk into Banksia. Its species name is from the Latin aurantia "orange".

Distribution and habitat

All known populations of B. aurantia lie within Wandoo National Park, at Little Darkin Swamp southeast of York. The species grows on flat, seasonally wet, low-lying areas of grey or white sand. The habitat is open woodland, and associated species include Hakea prostrata, candlestick banksia, holly pea and Melaleuca species.

Conservation status

Banksia aurantia has been declared critically endangered under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and rare under Western Australia's Wildlife Conservation Act 1950. There are three extant populations located within an area of approximately 4.5 square km and covering less than 0.1 square km.