Kingdom Plantae Family Proteaceae Subgenus Banksia subg. Banksia Rank Variety | Order Proteales Genus Banksia Series Banksia ser. Dryandra | |
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Banksia armata var. armata is a variety of shrub endemic to Western Australia.
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Description
B. armata var. armata grows as a spreading shrub, up to three metres in height, with deeply serrated leaves and a bright yellow inflorescence.
Distribution and habitat
It occurs throughout much of the south-west. The main distribution is between Perth and Albany, but it also occurs near Mount Lesueur in the north. It grows amongst open woodland or heath, on rocky soils.
Taxonomy
Specimens of B. armata were first collected at King George Sound in December 1801 by Robert Brown. Brown published a description of the species in 1810, naming it Dryandra armata; the specific epithet is from the Latin armatus ("armed") in reference to the sharply serrated leaves. Thirty years later, John Lindley published a purported new species, which he named Dryandra favosa. This was accepted as a species by Carl Meissner in 1845, but declared a taxonomic synonym of D. armata by him in 1856, and the latter view was taken by George Bentham his 1870 Flora Australiensis. In 1996, Alex George published D. armata var. ignicida, thereby invoking the autonym D. armata var.armata. George also refined the synonymy of D. favosa to this subspecies. In 2007, all Dryandra species were transferred to Banksia by Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele; hence the current name of this variety is Banksia armata (R.Br.) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele var. armata.