page_title: Banksia
section_title: Cut flower industry
hierarchical_section_title: Banksia / Uses / Cut flower industry
caption_attribution_description: Woodworked Banksia grandis cone Photo Cas Liber
context_page_description: Banksia is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes and fruiting "cones" and heads. Banksias range in size from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up to 30 metres tall. They are found in a wide variety of landscapes; sclerophyll forest, rainforest, shrubland, and some more arid landscapes, though not in Australia's deserts.
  Heavy producers of nectar, banksias are a vital part of the food chain in the Australian bush. They are an important food source for all sorts of nectarivorous animals, including birds, bats, rats, possums, stingless bees and a host of invertebrates. Furthermore, they are of economic importance to Australia's nursery and cut flower industries. However these plants are threatened by a number of processes including land clearing, frequent burning and disease, and a number of species are rare and endangered.
context_section_description: With the exception of the nursery industry, Banksia have limited commercial use.  Some species, principally B. coccinea (scarlet banksia), B. baxteri, B. hookeriana (Hooker's banksia), B. sceptrum (sceptre banksia), and B. prionotes (acorn banksia), and less commonly  B. speciosa (showy banksia), B. menziesii (Menzies' banksia),  B. burdettii and B. ashbyi are grown on farms in Western and Southern Australia, as well as Israel and Hawaii, and the flower heads harvested for the cut flower trade. Eastern species, such as B. ericifolia, B. robur and B. plagiocarpa, are sometimes cultivated for this purpose. The nectar is also sought by beekeepers, not for the quality of the dark-coloured honey, which is often poor, but because the trees provide an abundant and reliable source of nectar at times when other sources provide little.
caption: Woodworked Banksia grandis cone
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