BANKSIA OLIGANTHA

'''Banksia oligantha''', commonly known as the 'Wagin Banksia', is an endangered species in the plant family Proteaceae. Endemic to south west Western Australia, it belongs to the subgenus ''Banksia'' subg. ''Isostylis'', a grouping of three closely related ''Banksia'' species that are unusual in having inflorescences that are dome-shaped heads rather than characteristic ''Banksia'' flower spikes.
The Wagin Banksia grows as an erect shrub or small tree up to four metres high. The leaves are two to three centimetres long, very concave, and have two to four sharp points along each edge. The dome-shaped flower heads consist of numerous long thin flowers, pink at the base and creamy yellow elsewhere. The follicles readily open even without stimulation by fire.
The Wagin Banksia was first collected by A. Taylor on 18 November 1984, and published by Alex George in 1988. For about fifteen years it was known only from its type locality at Nature Reserve 9098, 28 km north-west of Wagin. In this location it grows on deep white to yellow-brown sand alongside an ephemeral salk creek surrounded by tall shrubland. There are around 400 plants in this location. These plants appear to be all the same age, which suggests that they may have volunteered after a bushfire that left no surviving adult specimens. By 1999 another population had been discovered in the area.
Threats to the Wagin Banksia include grazing by sheep and rabbits, and rising salinity. Although there is no direct data on the species' susceptibility to dieback, it may be assumed susceptible, because of the high susceptibility of the closely related ''B. cuneata.

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References

★ Western Australia's Threatened Flora, Brown, Andrew, Thomson-Dans, Carolyn and Marchant, Neville (eds), , , Department of Conservation and Land Management, Western Australia, 1998, ISBN 0-7309-6875-8

★ Flora of Australia: Volume 17B: Proteaceae 3: Hakea to Dryandra, George, A. S., , , CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study, 1999, ISBN 0-643-06454-0

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