These are just a few of the Banksia species. The Banksia is a native Australian plant. There are 173 Banksia species, and all but one occur naturally only in Australia. Banksias were named after Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820 ), who, in 1770, was the first European to collect specimens of these plants.
In 2010 we found “The Banksia Farm”. It was just outside the small village of Mt Barker in Western Australia. What an amazing place. Kevin and Kathy Collins have created the world’s only complete arboretum of Banksia species. I never knew there are so many and varied forms of this unique plant.
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Nalinki on “Angles and views” is hosting a weekly series called: “Flowersoverflowers”, it will be posted every Tuesday. The idea is to bring some more colorful pics of nature into our blogosphere
gypsy life 
Thanks for a fascinating post. I am enjoying learning about your native flowers and banksia are right up the top with stunning flowers and their unusual cones.
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And they have such a variety of colours too.
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Absolutely beautiful, Pauline! I found a flower on a tree on my dog walk yesterday and have no idea what it is. I’ll have to post it to see if anyone in the webisphere knows 😀
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You would certainly have quite a variety of flowers in your area. I’ll watch for your post.
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Pingback: Banksias and botanical artists | snippetsandsnaps
These are incredible, Pauline. Wow. Thanks for the info- very interesting.
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🙂 They are interesting plants and very Aussie.
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Love the color and shape, again a wonderful selection!
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Thanks Nalinki
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What a collection of photos! I’m trying to write a banksia-and-botanical-artists post: I’ll link to this if I ever finish it. The banksia farm is yet another reason to head to WA. I’m having trouble with the number of species. What was your source for 170? I’ve also found 73, source unrecorded of course. I think I’ll ring the Canberra Botanical Gardens.
You’ve captured wonderfully what I so love: beauty at all stages.
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Just found a list of 178. Check before you comment, Meg, not after!
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There does seem to be a lot of conflicting numbers.
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http://www.cpbr.gov.au/banksia/ this is were I got my info from Meg. When I visited the Banksia Farm in 2010 the genus Dryandra was just being incorporated into the Banksia family, causing much consternation. My memory is a bit hazy but I think that figure of 70 maybe before the dryandra was added. The magnificent volumes of Celia Rosser catalogued 76 banksias in 3 editions the 3rd edition published in 2000 http://www.nokomis.com.au/banksias.html details of the books are here. I look forward to your post, you are taking on a massive task. Incidentally all the photos in this post are of flower heads in full bloom, I was amazed at the huge variety of form, some I would not recognise as a Banksia.
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So are the ones that don’t look like Banksia, also Banksia? 🙂
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They certainly are I was amazed at the different forms, from ground covers to huge trees. Wish I had recorded their botanical names, I’m afraid I am a little bit unscientific in that regard.
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Lovely plants – from tiny flowers to huge ones and some of the dead ones that look exactly like hairbrushes 🙂
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I should’ve put the banksia man cone in but it is on my other computer back home…
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