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Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system and census were set to read-only mode on 1 October 2025. Taxonomic updates published since this time are not being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or Western Australia’s taxonomic names census (Nomos). Conservation listings displayed on Florabase may also be out of date. Please refer to DBCA’s Threatened species and communities webpage for the most recent Threatened and Priority Flora List, noting that recent taxonomic updates are similarly not included. Our database migration is moving to a staging phase. We thank you for your patience as we ensure the integrity of our biodiversity data, develop new workflows, and train staff to use the new systems. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 12:00 pm on Wednesday, 1 October 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Friday, 1 January 2027 +08:00.

Banksia elderiana F.Muell. & Tate
Swordfish Banksia

Reference
Bot.Centralbl. 57:317 (1893)
Conservation Code
Not threatened
Naturalised Status
Native to Western Australia
Name Status
Current

Densely branched, lignotuberous shrub, 1-4 m high. Fl. yellow, Jan to Mar or May. Yellow or brown sand, sometimes with lateritic gravel.

Grazyna Paczkowska, Descriptive Catalogue, 26 July 1995
Image

Scientific Description

Shrubs, 1-3 m high; branchlets hairy. Leaves petiolate, alternate, 260-360 mm long, 14-20 mm wide, hairy; petiole 10-20 mm long; lamina flat, once divided, pinnately divided, deeply divided, teeth pointing outwards, with 20-34 lobes on each side, the margins flat. Inflorescences tomentose (with matted or tangled, soft, woolly hairs), yellow, hairy. Perianth 25-27 mm long, glabrous, without awns; pistil 25-28 mm long, straight, style hairy. Follicles hairy, hirsute (with long, rough and coarse hairs), 15-20 mm long. Flowers in January, February, March, April or May. Occurs in the Eremaean (ER) or South-west (SW) Botanical Province(s), in the Murchison (MUR), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Coolgardie (COO), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Mallee (MAL) or Esperance Plains (ESP) IBRA subregion(s).

C. Hollister and K.R. Thiele, 19 January 2024

Distribution

IBRA Regions
Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, Great Victoria Desert, Mallee, Murchison.
IBRA Subregions
Eastern Goldfield, Eastern Mallee, Eastern Murchison, Fitzgerald, Merredin, Shield, Southern Cross, Western Mallee.
Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Coolgardie, Dundas, Esperance, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Kondinin, Kulin, Lake Grace, Menzies, Narembeen, Ravensthorpe, Westonia, Yilgarn.