Banksia micrantha
Banksia micrantha is a species of small shrub that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading bush with sharply-pointed linear leaves, pale yellow flower spikes and up to twenty-five follicles surrounded by the remains of the flowers. It was first formally described by Alex George in 1981. Description. "Banksia micrantha" grows as a spreading, bushy shrub up to high and wide and forms a lignotuber. Its branches are often horizontal and underground at first. It has hairy stems and sharply-pointed, linear leaves long and wide on a petiole long . The edges of the leaves are tightly rolled under. The flowers are pale yellow and arranged in a spike long with hairy involucral bracts long at the base of the head. The perianth is long and the pistil hooked and long. Up to twenty-five egg-shaped to elliptic follicles long high and wide form in each head, surrounded by the remains of the flowers. Taxonomy. "Banksia micrantha" had been recorded since 1938, but considered part of a broad "B. sphaerocarpa" complex, until officially described in 1981 by Alex George in his monograph "The genus Banksia L.f. (Proteaceae)". The specific  epithet ("micrantha") is from ancient Greek words meaning "small" and "flower". George placed "B. micrantha" in "Banksia" subgenus "Banksia" because of its characteristic "Banksia" flower spike, section "Oncostylis" because its flowers have hooked styles, and series "Abietinae" because of its roughly spherical flower spike. Its closest relative is said to "B. sphaerocarpa" (fox banksia). A 1996 cladistic analysis of "Banksia" by Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges confirmed "B. micrantha"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s placement in series "Abietinae" alongside "B. sphaerocarpa", finding "B. micrantha" to be more closely related to "B. sphaerocarpa" var. "sphaerocarpa" and "B. sphaerocarpa" var. "caesia" than is "B. sphaerocarpa  var. dolichostyla". As a result, this last variety was upgraded to species rank as "B. dolichostyla", and the four taxa were placed with "B. grossa" in a new subseries of "Abietinae", "Banksia subser. Sphaerocarpae". However, these changes were not accepted by Alex George in his authoritative 1999 contribution to the "Flora of Australia" series. Distribution and habitat. "Banksia micrantha" grows in kwongan and occurs amongst heath on sand or sand over laterite on the gentle slopes of lateritic hills between Eneabba and Cervantes. Ecology. This banksia is fire tolerant, resprouting from its lignotuber but the follicles also remain closed until  after a bushfire, when the follicles open to release the seed. Conservation status. "Banksia micrantha" is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife. Use in horticulture. Seeds do not require any treatment, and take 19 to 21 days to germinate.