Australian Native Plants

  Banksia laevigata ssp laevigata (Tennis Ball Banksia)


Banksia laevigata ssp laevigata photo
Banksia laevigata laevigata, Banksia Farm, Mt Barker

Photograph by Cas Liber. License: Public Domain.    (view image details)




TENNIS BALL BANKSIA FACTS

distribution map showing range of Banksia laevigata in Australia

Map is from The Atlas of Living Australia web site, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License


Common Name
Tennis Ball Banksia

Description
The Tennis Ball Banksia is a bushy shrub growing to three metres tall. It has grey bark. The leaves have serrated edges. It produces greenish yellow ball-shaped clusters of flowers in autumn and early summer (October to December). There are two subspecies of B. laevigata - the other is the Tennis Ball Banksia (ssp. fuscolutea) which has much brighter golden yellow flowers.

Habitat
The Tennis Ball Banksia grows in shrubland on stony soils

Distribution
found along the Fitzgerald River and in the Ravensthorpe Ranges in southern Western Australia

Growth Characteristics
Height: 2m - 3m
Spread: 2m - 3m

Wildlife Interest
birds, nectar

Classification
Class:Magnoliopsida
Order:Proteales
Family:Proteaceae
Genus:Banksia
Species:laevigata
Variety:'ssp laevigata'
Common Name:Tennis Ball Banksia


Relatives in same Genus
  Banksia aculeata
  Banksia aemula
  Banksia anatona
  Banksia ashbyi
  Banksia attenuata
  Banksia audax
  Banksia baueri
  Banksia baxteri
  Banksia benthamiana
  Banksia blechnifolia
  Banksia brownii
  Banksia burdettii
  Banksia caleyi
  Banksia candolleana
  Banksia canei
  Banksia carlinoides
  Banksia chamaephyton
  Banksia coccinea
  Banksia conferta ssp conferta
  Banksia conferta ssp penicillata
  Banksia cuneata
  see A-Z list for more ...