Curtis's Botanical Magazine/Volume 55/2803 Banksia marcescens

by William Jackson Hooker

[ 2803 ]


Banksia marcescens. Marcescent
Banksia.



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Class and Order.

Tetandria Monogynia.


(Nat. Ord. - Proteaceæ)

Generic Character.

Cal. quadripartitus (raro quadrifidus). Stamina apicibus
concavis laciniarum immersa. Squamulæ hypogynæ 4.
Ovarium biloculare, loculis monospermis. Folliculus bilo-
cularis, ligneus: dissepimento libero, bifido. Amentum
flosculorum paribus tribracteatis. Br.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

Banksia marcescens; foliis cuneiformibus planis sparsis
truncatis extra medium dentato-serratis: basi acutius-
cula, ramis tomentosis, calcycibus persistentibus folli-
culisque glabris. Br.
Banksia marcescens; Br. in. Linn. Trans. v. 10 p. 208
Br. Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. p. 395 Sweet Fl. Austr.
t. 14
Banksia præmorsa. Andr. Repos. t. 258.
Banksia aspleniifolia. Knight et Salisb. Prot. 113. (excl.
Syn. Salisburii Prod. (Br.)

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Descr. A shrub from four to six feet high in our collec-
tions, much branched, the ultimate and younger branches
downy. Leaves scattered, two to three inches long, erecto-
patent, rigid, oblong, cuneate at the base, petiolate; petiole
half an inch long; truncate at the extremity, the upper
half deeply dentato-serrate, the lower half entire; the upper
side deep green, the under white, with numerous green,
minute reticulations: the midrib is prominent on the under-
side,

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side, and in the younger leaves only, downy. Amentum
terminal, large, cylindrical, of exceedingly numerous flow-
ers, placed in pairs, each pair subtended by three closely-
placed bractea, two inner and one outer one, clothed with
long, silky, fulvous hairs, the middle one having a conical,
naked point. Perianth or Calyx glabrous, greenish yellow,
with the tube slender, filiform, the upper half separating
into four segments, spathulate and concave at the extremity,
and, in the hollow, bearing, each, a solitary anther. Style
scarcely longer than the perianth, filiform, yellow. Stigma
simple.

The seed of this fine species of Banksia were received
from Mr. Fraser, and, according to Mr. Brown, it is an in-
habitant of Lewin's Land, near the shore, in the Southern
part of New Holland. Introduced into England by Mr.
Menzies, its discoverer, in 1794. I have no opportunity of
comparing the plant with the figure quoted by Mr. Brown,
in Andrew's Repository, nor am I quite sure of its being
the true B. marcescens. The leaves are not decidedly cu-
neate, and they are reticulated with white, downy areolæ.
In some respects it approaches the B. oblongifolia, but that
is described by Mr. Brown as having sericeous calcyces.

The B. marcescens flowers in the greenhouse in the month
of April, and our drawing was made from the Glasgow
Botanic Garden.

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Fig. 1. Bracteæ with two Flowers.--Magnified.


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