 Specimens of Banksia dentata were collected from the vicinity of the Endeavour River somewhere between 17 June and 3 August 1770 by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, naturalists on the Endeavour during Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. However, the description of the species was not published until April 1782, when Carolus Linnaeus the Younger described the first four Banksia species in his Supplementum Plantarum. Linnaeus distinguished them by their leaf shapes, and named them accordingly. Thus this species' dentate (toothed) leaf margins saw it given the specific name dentata, the Latin adjective for "toothed". Banksia dentata is monotypic, and no subspecies are recognised. Though not closely studied, reports suggest it does not vary significantly over its range.
