Banksia conferta

Banksia conferta is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 4 m (13 ft) but does not form a lignotuber. It has rough, grey, tessellated bark on the trunk and orange, red or brown stems that are hairy at first. The leaves are arranged in whorls and are elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 35–120 mm (1.4–4.7 in) long and 7–40 mm (0.28–1.57 in) wide with the edges curved downwards and sometimes serrated. The flowers are crowded in a cylindrical spike 70–190 mm (2.8–7.5 in) long with involucral bracts 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long at the base. The flowers are yellowish green to pinkish brown in the bud stage, turning golden yellow when open. The perianth is 20–26 mm (0.79–1.02 in) long and the pistil is 22–26 mm (0.87–1.02 in) long and slightly curved. Flowering occurs from late April to July and the fruit is a narrow elliptical follicle 8–15 mm (0.31–0.59 in) long, 2–6 mm (0.079–0.236 in) high and 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) wide. More than 100 follicles often form in each spike, surrounded by the remains of the flowers. The follicles remain until the plant is burned, unlike those of the similar B. integrifolia which also has less crowded flowers.[3][4][5]

Banksia conferta was first formally described in 1981 by Alex George in the journal Nuytsia from specimens he collected from Mount Tibrogargan in the Glass House Mountains National Park in 1975.[5][6] The specific epithet (conferta) is a Latin word meaning "crowded".[7]

In the same journal, George described variety conferta[8] and var. penicillata,[9] and in 1996 he described subspecies conferta[10] and subsp. penicillata.[11][12] He described subsp. conferta as being found in southern Queensland on the Lamington Plateau and the Glass House Mountains and subsp. penicillata from Bowral to north of Lithgow in New South Wales.

In 1996, Kevin Thiele raised subsp. penicillata to species status as B. penicillata in Australian Systematic Botany, so that var. conferta and subsp. conferta became synonyms of B. conferta.[13]

This banksia is known from the Lamington Plateau and the Glass House Mountains in southern Queensland where it grows on steep rocky slopes in scrub and open shrubland. As subspecies conferta, it also occurs in the Coorabakh National Park in New South Wales where is listed as "critically endangered" under the Threatened Species Conservation Act in that state.[5][14]

• Taylor, Anne; Hopper, Stephen (1988). The Banksia Atlas (Australian Flora and Fauna Series Number 8). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-07124-9.

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