Banksia sessilis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Parrot Bush
B. sessilis var. cordata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Banksia
Species: B. sessilis
Binomial name
Banksia sessilis
(Knight) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele
Varieties

B. sessilis var. sessilis
B. sessilis var. cordata
B. sessilis var. cygnorum
B. sessilis var. flabellifolia
Synonyms

Josephia sessilis Knight
Dryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin

Banksia sessilis, commonly known as Parrot Bush, is a species of shrub or tree in the plant genus Banksia. Until 2007 it had been known as Dryandra sessilis. It is widespread throughout southwest Western Australia, and quick to recolonise degraded areas in the Perth area.

It is found in disturbed ground on the Darling Scarp where its colonisation can be so dense that it is the only species of plant occurring in the thickets it creates. As a consequence - despite its transitory position in some ecological zones - the thickets become habitat refuges for Kangaroos and some species of bird. Some honeyeaters are known to avoid areas where there is little or no parrot bush occurring.

Some road verges and areas in John Forrest National Park and the adjacent suburbs that include Glen Forrest are filled to road edge with this species. It is a prickly plant with little apparent horticultural interest.

Contents

[edit] Description

It grows as an upright shrub or small tree up to six metres high, without a lignotuber. Its leaves are two to six centimetres long and eight to 40 millimetres wide, with prickly teeth either all along the margins or near the end. They may be sessile (that is, growing directly from the stem without a petiole) or have a petiole up to five millimetres long. The inflorescences are cream or yellow, and occur in domed heads with 55 to 125 individual flowers, situated at the end of a stem.[1][2]

[edit] Discovery and naming

Ferdinand Bauer's painting of B. sessilis, based on drawings made by him at King George Sound in December 1801
Ferdinand Bauer's painting of B. sessilis, based on drawings made by him at King George Sound in December 1801

Specimens of B. sessilis were first collected by Archibald Menzies during the visit of the Vancouver Expedition to King George Sound in September and October 1791. No firm location or collection date can be ascribed to Menzies' specimens, as their labels simply read "New Holland, King Georges Sound, Mr. Arch. Menzies",[3] and Menzies' journal indicates that he collected over a wide area, visiting a different location every day from 29 September to 8 October.[4] In addition to B. sessilis, Menzies collected plant material of B. pellaeifolia, and seeds of at least four more Banksia species.[5] This was therefore an important early collection for the genus, of which only seven species had previously been collected, and only one, B. nivea (Honeypot Dryandra), from New Holland (now Western Australia).[6][7]

Menzies' seed specimens were sent to England from Sydney in 1793, but his plant material remained with him for the duration of the voyage, during which time some material was lost. On his return to England in 1795, the surviving specimens were deposited into the herbarium of Sir Joseph Banks, where they lay undescribed for many years.[7]

A further collection was made in December 1801, when King George Sound was visited by HMS Investigator under the command of Matthew Flinders. On board were botanist Robert Brown, botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer, and gardener Peter Good. All three men gathered material for Brown's specimen collection,[5] including specimens of B. sessilis,[8] although Brown's diary cannot be used to assign a precise location or date for their discovery of the species.[9] Good also made a separate seed collection, which included B. sessilis,[10] and the species was drawn by Bauer. Like nearly all of Bauer's field drawings of Proteaceae, his original field sketch of B. sessilis was destroyed in a Hofburg fire in 1945.[11] A painting based on the drawing survives, however, at the Natural History Museum in London.[12]

On returning to England in 1805, Brown began preparing an account of his specimens. In September 1808, with Brown's account still far from finished, Jonas Dryander asked him to write a separate paper on the Proteaceae, so that he could use the genera erected by Brown in a new edition of Hortus Kewensis. Brown's immediately began a study of the Proteaceae, and in January 1809 he read to the Linnean Society of London the first part of his monograph on the Proteaceae, entitled On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae. Among the eighteen new genera presented was one that Brown named Josephia in honour of Sir Joseph Banks.[13]

Brown's paper was approved for printing in May 1809, but did not appear in print until March the following year. In the meantime, Joseph Knight published On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteae, which appeared to draw heavily on Brown's as yet unpublished material, without permission, and in most cases without attribution.[13] It contained the first publication of Brown's Josephia, for which two species were listed. The first, Josephia sessilis (Sessile Josephia), was based on one of Menzies' specimens:

"This species, discovered by Mr. A. Menzies on the West coast of New Holland, is not unlike some varieties of Ilex Aquifolium, and now in his Majesty's collection at Kew."[14]

The etymology of the specific epithet was not explicitly stated, but it is universally accepted that it comes from the Latin sessilis (sessile, stalkless), in reference to the sessile leaves of this species.[2]

Blame for the alleged plagiarism largely fell on Richard Salisbury, who had been present at Brown's readings and is thought to have provided much of the material for Knight's book. Salisbury was ostracized by the botanical community, which undertook to ignore his work as much as possible.[13] By the time Brown's monograph appeared in print, Brown had exchanged the generic name Josephia for Dryandra, giving the name Dryandra floribunda to Knight's Josephia sessilis.[15] As there were then no rules pertaining to priority of publication,[16] Brown's name was accepted, and remained the current name for over a century.[17]

Another significant early collection was the apparent discovery of the species at the Swan River in 1827. In that year, Colonial Botanist of New South Wales Charles Fraser visited the area as part of an exploring expedition under James Stirling. Amongst the plants that Fraser found growing on the south side of the river entrance was "a beautiful species of Dryandra."[18] This was later referred to D. sessilis by George Seddon on the advice of Alexander Morrison.[19]

Over the course of the 19th century, the principal of priority in naming gradually came to be accepted by botanists, as did the need for a mechanism by which names in current usage could be conserved against archaic or obscure prior names. By the 1920s, Dryandra R.Br. was effectively conserved against Josephia Knight, although a mechanism for formal conservation was not put in place until 1933. Brown's specific name, however, was not conserved, and in 1924 Karel Domin overturned Dryandra floribunda R.Br. by transferring Knight's name into Dryandra as Dryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin.[20] This name was current until 2007, when all Dryandra species were transferred into Banksia by Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele.[21] The current name is thus Banksia sessilis (Knight) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele.[22]

[edit] Common names

B. sessilis was given the common name Sessile Josephia when first published in 1809,[14] and this was used when the plant was featured in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1813.[23] In Australia, the names Prickly Dryandra and Shaving-brush Flower were offered up by Emily Pelloe in 1921, but neither of these were adopted.[24] The name Holly-leaved Dryandra was used in the Western Mail article of 1933–4,[25] and this was taken up by William Blackall in 1954,[26] and was still in use as late as 1970.[24] Meanwhile, Gardner used the name Parrot Bush in 1959,[25] a name by which the species was "well-known to bee-keepers".[27] This name was widely adopted, and by 1970 was in almost exclusive usage.[24]

The only indigenous names reported for the plant are "Budjan" and "But-yak". These were published by Ian Abbott in his 1983 Aboriginal names for plant species in south-western Australia, with Abbott suggesting that the latter name should be preferred, but with the orthography "Pudjak".[28] However, Abbott sources these names to George Fletcher Moore's 1842 A Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language of the Aborigines, which in fact attributes these names to the species Dryandra fraseri (now Banksia fraseri).[29] It is unclear whether Abbott has corrected Moore's error, or introduced an error of his own.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Infrageneric placement

Brown's 1810 monograph did not include an infrageneric classification of Dryandra, and nor did his Prodromus, published later that year. In 1830, however, he introduced the first taxonomic arrangement of Dryandra, placing D. floribunda in section Dryandra verae along with most other species, because its follicle contain a single seed separator.[30]

Dryandra verae was renamed Eudryandra by Carl Meissner in 1845.[31] Eleven years later he published a new arrangement, retaining D. floribunda is D. sect. Eudryandra, and further placing it in the unranked subgroup § Ilicinae, because of the similarity of its leaves to those of Ilex (Holly).[32]

In 1870, George Bentham published a revised arrangement in his Flora Australiensis. Bentham retained section Eudryandra, but abandoned almost all of Meissner's unranked groups, including § Ilicinae. D. floribunda was instead placed in D. ser. Floribundae along with four other species all of which have small, mostly terminal flowers, left exposed by their having unusually short floral leaves.[33]

Bentham's arrangement stood for over a hundred years, eventually being replaced in 1996 by the arrangement of Alex George. Section Eudryandra was promoted to subgenus rank, but replaced by the autonym D. subg. Dryandra. D. sessilis, as this species was now called, was retained in D. ser. Floribundae, but alone, as the series was redefined as containing only those taxa that apparently lack floral bracts altogether.[3]

The placement of D. sessilis in George's arrangement, with 1999[34] and 2005[35] amendments, may be summarised as follows:

Genus Dryandra (now Banksia ser. Dryandra)
Subgenus Dryandra
Series Floribundae
D. sessilis (now B. sessilis)
D. sessilis var. sessilis (now B. sessilis var. sessilis)
D. sessilis var. flabellifolia (now B. sessilis var. flabellifolia)
D. sessilis var. cordata (now B. sessilis var. cordata)
D. sessilis var. cygnorum (now B. sessilis var. cygnorum)
Series Armatae
Series Marginatae
Series Folliculosae
Series Acrodontae
Series Capitellatae
Series Ilicinae
Series Dryandra
Series Foliosae
Series Decurrentes
Series Tenuifoliae
Series Runcinatae
Series Triangulares
Series Aphragma
Series Ionthocarpae
Series Inusitatae
Series Subulatae
Series Gymnocephalae
Series Plumosae
Series Concinnae
Series Obvallatae
Series Pectinatae
Series Acuminatae
Series Niveae
Subgenus Hemiclidia
Subgenus Diplophragma

George's arrangement remained current until 2007, when Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred Dryandra into Banksia. They also published B. subg. Spathulatae for the Banksia taxa having spoon-shaped cotyledons, thus redefining B. subg. Banksia as comprising those that do not. They were not ready, however, to tender an infrageneric arrangement encompassing Dryandra, so as an interim measure they transferred Dryandra into Banksia at series rank. This minimised the nomenclatural disruption of the transfer, but also caused George's rich infrageneric arrangement to be set aside. Thus under the interim arrangements implemented by Mast and Thiele, B. sessilis is placed in B. subg. Banksia, ser. Dryandra.[21]

[edit] Varieties

Four varieties are recognised:

  • B. sessilis var. sessilis is an autonym that encompasses the type material of the species. This is the most widespread variety, occurring from Regans Ford and Moora in the north, south-east to Albany, and inland as far as Wongan Hills, Pingelly and Kulin. Its leaves are wedge-shaped or oblong, and are usually two to three centimetres long but may reach five.
  • B. sessilis var. cordata was published as Dryandra floribunda var. cordata by Carl Meissner in 1848. In 1870, George Bentham published D. floribunda var. major, but this is now considered a taxonomic synonym of B. sessilis var. cordata.
  • B. sessilis var. cygnorum has its roots in Michel Gandoger's publication of two new species names in 1919. He published Dryandra cygnorum and Dryandra quinquedentata, but in 1996 both of these were found to refer to the same taxon, which Alex George gave variety rank as Dryandra serrata var. cygnorum.
  • B. sessilis var. flabellifolia was published by George in 1996.

[edit] Distribution and habitat

Distribution of B. sessilis, shown on a map of Western Australia's biogeographic regions.
Distribution of B. sessilis, shown on a map of Western Australia's biogeographic regions.[36]

B. sessilis is endemic to the Southwest Botanical Province, a floristic province renowned as a biodiversity hotspot, located in the southwest corner of Western Australia. This area has a Mediterranean climate, with wet winters and hot, dry summers.[37] B. sessilis occurs throughout much of the province, ranging from Kalbarri in the north, south to Cape Leeuwin, east along the south coast as far as Bremer Bay, and inland to Wongan Hills and Kulin.[34] It thus spans a wide range of climates, occurring in all but the semi-arid areas well inland. It is also absent from the Karri forest in the cool, wet, southwest corner of the province, but even there, B. sessilis var. cordata occurs along the coast.[2]

The species tolerates a range of soils, requiring only that its soil be well drained. Like most dryandras it grows well in lateritic soils and gravels, but this species is also found in deep sand, sand over laterite, and sand over limestone. It also occurs in a range of vegetation complexes, including coastal and kwongan heath, tall shrubland, woodland and open forest. It is a common understory plant in drier areas of Jarrah forest,[2] and forms thickets on limestone soils of the Swan Coastal Plain.[37]

Nothing is known of the conditions that affect its distribution, as its biogeography is as yet unstudied.

[edit] Cultivation

In 1813, Curtis's Botanical Magazine featured a colour plate of a painting by Sydenham Edwards, modelled on a specimen grown from seed collected by Peter Good in 1801–02.
In 1813, Curtis's Botanical Magazine featured a colour plate of a painting by Sydenham Edwards, modelled on a specimen grown from seed collected by Peter Good in 1801–02.
Edgar Dell's painting of B. sessilis, first published in The Western Mail in 1933 or 1934
Edgar Dell's painting of B. sessilis, first published in The Western Mail in 1933 or 1934

Menzies' seed collection was sent from Sydney and arrived at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on 18 June 1793. It is not known whether this included B. sessilis, but if it did then it did not germinate.[7] The species was successful germinated, however, from Good's seed, which was sent from Sydney on 6 June 1802 and arrived at Kew the following year.[10] According to Brown's notes it was flowering at Kew by May 1806,[38] and in 1810 it was reported in the second edition of Hortus Kewensis as flowering "most part of the Year".[10] In 1813 a flowering specimen from the nursery of Malcolm and Sweet was featured as Plate 1581 in Curtis's Botanical Magazine.[23]

By the 1830s the species was in cultivation in continental Europe. It was recorded as being cultivated in the garden of Karl von Hügel in Vienna, Austria in 1831, and in 1833 it was listed amongst the rare plants that had been introduced into Belgium. Along with several hundred other native Australian plants it was exhibited at plant shows held at Utrecht and Haarlem in the Netherlands in the 1840s and 1850s. By this time, however, English gardeners had already begun to lose interest in the Proteaceae, and by the end of the 19th century European interest in the cultivation of Proteaceae was virtually non-existent.[7]

In Australia, there was little interest in the cultivation of Australian plants until the mid 1900s, despite a long-standing appreciation of their beauty as wildflowers. For example, in 1933 and 1934 The Western Mail published a series of Edgar Dell paintings of Western Australian wildflowers,[39] including a painting of B. sessilis. These were subsequently republished in Charles Gardner's 1935 West Australian Wild Flowers, but the text did not cover cultivation.[citation needed] One of the first published colour photographs of the species appeared in William Blackall's 1954 How to know Western Australian wildflowers, but this publication was restricted to plant identification.[26] The species was discussed and illustrated in the 1959 Wildflowers of Western Australia, and in the 1973 Flowers and plants of Western Australia, but neither of these books provided cultivation advice either.[25][40]

Possibly the first published information on the cultivation of Dryandra appeared in the magazine Australian Plants in June and September 1961.[7] D. sessilis was amongst the species treated, but as there was not yet any experimental data on cultivation, information was restricted to its aesthetic qualities and the information on the soil in which it naturally occurs.[41][42]

From its inception in 1962, the Kings Park and Botanic Garden undertook extensive research into the cultivation of native plants, resulting in two early publications that mentioned the cultivation potential of B. sessilis.[7] In 1965, John Stanley Beard published Descriptive catalogue of Western Australian plants, "a work of reference in which the horticultural characteristics of the plants concerned could be looked up by the staff", which described D. sessilis as an erect shrub with pale yellow flowers appearing from May to October, growing in sand and gravel.[43] Five years later, Arthur Fairall published West Australian native plants in cultivation. This presented largely the same information as Beard's catalogue, adding only that the species flowers well in its third season.[44]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin. Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  2. ^ a b c d Cavanagh, Tony & Pieroni, Margaret (2006), “Dryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin (1923)”, The Dryandras, Melbourne: Australian Plants Society (SGAP Victoria); Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia, pp. 203–207, ISBN 1-876473-54-1 
  3. ^ a b George, Alex (1996). "New taxa and a new infrageneric classification in Dryandra R.Br. (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae)". Nuytsia 10 (3): 313–408. 
  4. ^ Menzies, Archibald. "Journal of Archibald Menzies, botanist with George Vancouver at King George's Sound, September 27, 1791 to October 13, 1791".
  5. ^ a b Hopper, Stephen (2003). "South-western Australia, Cinderella of the world's temperate floristic regions 1". Curtis's Botanical Magazine 21 (2): 132–179. doi:10.1111/1467-8748.00380. 
  6. ^ George, Alex (1987), “Discovery and naming”, The Banksia Book, Kenthurst: Kangaroo Press, pp. 9–13, ISBN 0-86417-143-9 
  7. ^ a b c d e f Cavanagh & Pieroni (2006), “Chapter One: The discovery, naming and historical cultivation of Dryandra”, pp. 5–20 
  8. ^ Dryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin.. Robert Brown’s Australian Botanical Specimens, 1801–1805 at the BM. FloraBase, Western Australian Herbarium. Retrieved on 2007-09-27.
  9. ^ Vallance, T. G.; Moore, D. T.; Groves, E. W. (2001). Nature's Investigator: The Diary of Robert Brown in Australia, 1801–1805. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study. ISBN 0-642-56817-0. 
  10. ^ a b c Aiton, William (1810). "Dryandra", Hortus Kewensis, 2nd edition, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 219–221. Retrieved on 2007-06-10. 
  11. ^ Pignatti-Wikus, Erika (2000). "Ferdinand Bauer's field drawings of endemic Western Australian plants made at Kng George Sound and Lucky Bay, December 1801 – January 1802. I: Families Brassicaceae, Goodenaceae p.p., Lentibulariaceae, Campanulaceae p.p., Orchidaceae, Pittosporaceae p.p., Rutaceae p.p., Stylidaceae, Xyridaceae". Rendiconti lincei: Scienze fisiche e naturali s.9, v.11 (2): 69–109. 
  12. ^ Dryandra sessilis [picture : parrot bush]. DigitalCollections: Pictures. National Library of Australia. Retrieved on 2007-10-12.
  13. ^ a b c Mabberley, D. J. (1985). "Chapter IX: The natural system", Jupiter Botanicus: Robert Brown of the British Museum. Braunschweig: J. Cramer, 141–176. ISBN 3-7682-1408-7. 
  14. ^ a b Knight, Joseph (1809). "Josephia R.Br.", On the cultivation of plants belonging to the natural order of Proteae. London: Savage, 110–111. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.  pp. 110–111
  15. ^ Brown, Robert (1810). "Dryandra", Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. London: Taylor, 396–399. 
  16. ^ Nicolson, Dan (1991). "A history of botanical nomenclature". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 78: 33–56. doi:10.2307/2399589. 
  17. ^ Dryandra floribunda R.Br.. Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  18. ^ Fraser, Charles (1830). "Remarks on the botany, &c. of the banks of Swan River, Isle of Bauche, Baie Geographe, and Cape Naturaliste". Botanical Miscellany 1: 221–236. 
  19. ^ Seddon, George (2004). "The Swan in 1827", Sense of Place, Facsimile edition, Melbourne: Bloomings Book, 177–183. ISBN 1-876473-53-3. 
  20. ^ Dryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin. Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  21. ^ a b Mast, Austin R. and Kevin Thiele (2007). "The transfer of Dryandra R.Br. to Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". Australian Systematic Botany 20: 63–71. doi:10.1071/SB06016. 
  22. ^ Banksia sessilis (Knight) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele. Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  23. ^ a b Sims, John (1813). "1581. Dryandra floribunda. Many-Flowered Dryandra". Curtis's Botanical Magazine XXXVIII. 
  24. ^ a b c Bennett, Eleanor (1991). Common and Aboriginal names of Western Australian plant species. Boya, Western Australia: Wildflower Society of Western Australia, Eastern Hills Branch. 
  25. ^ a b c Gardner, Charles (1959). Wildflowers of Western Australia. Perth: West Australian Newspapers. 
  26. ^ a b Blackall, William (1954). How to know Western Australian wildflowers. Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 123. 
  27. ^ Gray, A. J.. "Description of plants on colour plate". Australian Plants 1 (7): 12. 
  28. ^ Abbott, Ian. "Aboriginal names for plant species in south-western Australia". Technical Paper No. 5. . Forests Department of Western Australia
  29. ^ Moore, George Fletcher (1842). A Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language of the Aborigines. London: W. S. Orr & co., 19,23. 
  30. ^ Brown, Robert (1830). "Dryandra", Supplementum Primum Prodromi Florae Novae Hollandiae. London: Taylor, 37–40. 
  31. ^ Meissner, Carl (1845). "Dryandra R.Br.". Plantae Preissianae 1. Ed. Lehmann, J. G. C. 589–601. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. 
  32. ^ Meissner, Carl (1856). "XLIV. Dryandra". Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis XIV. Ed. de Candolle, A. P.. Paris: Sumptibus Sociorum Treuttel et Wurtz. 467–481. 
  33. ^ Bentham, George (1870). "Dryandra". Flora Australiensis V. London: L. Reeve & Co.. 562–584. 
  34. ^ a b George, Alex S. (1999). "Dryandra". Flora of Australia 17B. Ed. Wilson, Annette (ed.). Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study. 251–363. ISBN 0-643-06454-0. 
  35. ^ George, A. S. (2005). "Further new taxa in Dryandra R.Br. (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae)". Nuytsia 15: 337–346. 
  36. ^ Dryandra sessilis (Knight) Domin. FloraBase. Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Western Australia.
  37. ^ a b Cavanagh & Pieroni (2006), “Chapter Two: The biology and ecology of Dryandra”, pp. 21–42 
  38. ^ Mabberley (1985), p. 443 
  39. ^ Hewson, Helen (1999). Australia: 300 years of botanical illustration. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing, 167–168. ISBN 0-643-06366-8. 
  40. ^ Erickson, Rica; George, A. S.; Marchant, N. G.; Morcombe, M. K. (1973). Flowers and plants of Western Australia. Sydney: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 15, 46. 
  41. ^ Royce, R. D. (1961). "The genus Dryandra". Australian Plants 1 (7): 5. 
  42. ^ Royce, R. D. (1961). "The genus Dryandra". Australian Plants 1 (8): 19. 
  43. ^ Beard, John Stanley (1965). Descriptive catalogue of Western Australian plants. Perth: Kings Park Board. 
  44. ^ Fairall, Arthur (1970). West Australian native plants in cultivation. Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales: Pergamon Press, 112. ISBN 0080174779. 

[edit] Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  • Brown, Robert (1810). On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae. 
  • Brown, Robert (1810). "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu". Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 10: 15–226. 
  • Domin, Karel (1923). "[Title unknown]". Memoires de la Societe Royale des Sciences de Boheme 2 (2): 19. 

[edit] External links