Banksia benthamiana

Banksia benthamiana is a shrub that typically grows to a height of but does not form a lignotuber. Its bark is roughly flaking and grey and the branchlets are densely covered with rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are linear in shape, mostly long and wide on a petiole long. The sides of the leaves usually have small teeth long and apart along one half or more. Both surfaces of the leaves are hairy when young. The flowering spike is borne on a short side branch and is long and about wide when the flowers open. Each flower has a hairy perianth long and a glabrous, curved pistil long. Flowering occurs from late November to January and up to 130 narrow elliptical, smooth, furry follicles long, high and wide, develop in each spike. ==Taxonomy==

Banksia benthamiana was first formally described in 1964 by Charles Gardner in the Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia. ==Distribution and habitat==

This banksia is found in scattered populations between Mullewa and Kulja in the Southwest of Western Australia. It grows on plains in shrubland, sometimes as an emergent plant, on brownish yellow sandy loam or clay-loam, sometimes over laterite. Many of the populations are small and on road verges. The annual rainfall in these areas is around . ==Conservation status==

Banksia benthamiana is currently classified as "Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, ==Ecology==

Volunteers for the 1985 Banksia Atlas reported that moths and birds have been seen pollinating it. ==Use in horticulture==

Banksia benthamiana is almost unknown in cultivation and unsuitable for small gardens, but can be grown in a container and is fast growing. A slightly acid deep sand or gravel soil is desirable. ==References==