Portal:Western Australia/Selected article/15

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Banksia telmatiaea

Banksia telmatiaea, commonly known as Swamp Fox Banksia or rarely Marsh Banksia, is a shrub that grows in marshes and swamps along the lower west coast of Australia. It grows as an upright bush up to two metres (7 ft) tall, with narrow leaves and a pale brown flower spike, which can produce profuse quantities of nectar. First collected in the 1840s, it was not published as a species until 1981; as with several other similar species it was previously included in B. sphaerocarpa (Fox Banksia).

The shrub grows amongst scrubland in seasonally wet lowland areas of the coastal sandplain between Badgingarra and Serpentine in Western Australia. A little studied species, not much is known of its ecology or conservation biology. Reports do suggest, however, that it is pollinated by a variety of birds and small mammals. Like many members of series Abietinae it has not been considered to have much horticultural potential and is rarely cultivated.