Banksia serrata

Banksia serrata.

This is the type species for the genus, in family Proteaceae.
The Saw or Old Man Banksia is found in Queensland.

Most commonly seen as a tree up to 16 m but also as a shrub and rarely prostrate.
It does not have lignotubers.
The thick grey to brown bark is warty and wrinkled.
Branchlets are hairy for up to 3 years.

Leaves, on petioles up to 2 cm long, are alternate and may be crowded together.
Young leaves have rust coloured hairs underneath.
Adult leaves, up to 25 cm long by 4 cm wide, are oblong to obovate.
They are a shiny, dark green above, paler below and the blunt tip has a small mucro.
The edge is toothed except sometimes for up to 5 cm at the base.

Terminal inflorescences are spikes up to 16 cm high with a whorl of leaves at the base.
The cream flowers have 4 tepals up to 4.5 cm long that are hairy externally.
The dead flowers are greyish and persist for a long time.

The 3 mm long anthers, on very short or no filament, are inserted into the tepal tips.
There is a superior ovary with a single chamber and one to a few ovules.
The curved, cream style, up to 6 cm long, has a fusiform tip 2.5 to 3 mm long.

The fruit are follicles up to 3.5 cm wide that are partly hidden by the dead tepals and styles.
The woody follicles are initially hairy.
The 3 mm seeds, with a thin wing, have a tough seed separator around them.

J.F.