About Banksia formosa (R.Br.) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele
Banksia formosa is an erect shrub that typically reaches a height of 1 to 3 meters (3 feet 3 inches to 9 feet 10 inches), and it does not form a lignotuber. Its branchlets are covered in hair, and its leaves are broadly linear in outline, pinnatipartite. The leaves measure 70 to 160 millimeters (2.8 to 6.3 inches) long and 6 to 11 millimeters (0.24 to 0.43 inches) wide, and attach to a 2 to 3 millimeter (0.079 to 0.118 inch) long petiole. Each side of the leaf bears between 30 and 45 more or less triangular lobes. Flowers are arranged in heads that hold between 100 and 220 flowers each. Oblong to egg-shaped involucral bracts 16 to 20 millimeters (0.63 to 0.79 inches) long grow at the base of each flower head. The flowers have a golden orange perianth 25 to 39 millimeters (0.98 to 1.54 inches) long, and a yellow pistil 29 to 55 millimeters (1.1 to 2.2 inches) long. Flowering occurs in May, or between September and December. The fruit is a glabrous follicle 11 to 13 millimeters (0.43 to 0.51 inches) long, and each flower head can produce up to thirteen follicles. This species grows in kwongan and open forest in the area between Busselton and Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, and it is common near Albany and in the Stirling Range. An assessment of the potential impact of climate change on Banksia formosa found its range is likely to contract by between 50% and 80% by 2080, with the extent of contraction dependent on the severity of climate change.
