Banksia Lemanniana - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

Banksia lemanniana was formally described by Carl Meissner in 1856, from a collection by James Drummond in early 1847. Its specific name is for English botanist Charles Morgan Lemann. It has been misspelt "lehmanniana" after being mistakenly attributed to the German botanist Johann Lehmann.

George placed B. lemanniana in B. subg. Banksia because its inflorescence is a typical Banksia flower spike; in B. sect. Banksia because of its straight styles; and B. ser. Tetragonae because of its pendulous inflorescences and tetragonal limbs. He considered it closely related to B. aculeata and B. caleyi, which are smaller, more compact, shrubs with red or pink tinged inflorescences.

In 1996, Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges published the results of a cladistic analysis of morphological characters of Banksia. They retained George's subgenera and many of his series, but discarded his sections. George's B. ser. Tetragonae was found to be monophyletic, and therefore retained; and their analysis of the relationships within the series supported the placement of B. lemanniana as sister to the pair of species B. aculeata and B. caleyi.

B. lemanniana's placement in Thiele and Ladiges' arrangement may be summarised as follows:

Banksia

B. subg. Isostylis (3 species)

B. elegans (incertae sedis)

B. subg. Banksia

B. ser. Tetragonae

B. elderiana

B. lemanniana

B. caleyi

B. aculeata

B. ser. Lindleyanae (1 species)

B. ser. Banksia (2 subseries, 12 species)

B. baueri (incertae sedis)

B. lullfitzii (incertae sedis)

B. attenuata (incertae sedis)

B. ashbyi (incertae sedis)

B. coccinea (incertae sedis)

B. ser. Prostratae (8 species)

B. ser. Cyrtostylis (4 species)

B. ser. Ochraceae (3 species, 2 subspecies)

B. ser. Grandes (2 species)

B. ser. Salicinae (2 series, 11 species, 4 subspecies)

B. ser. Spicigerae (3 series, 7 species, 6 varieties)

B. ser. Quercinae (2 species)

B. ser. Dryandroideae (1 species)

B. ser. Abietinae (4 subseries, 15 species, 8 varieties)

The arrangement of Thiele and Ladiges was not accepted by George, and was discarded in his 1999 revision. Under George's 1999 arrangement, B. aculeata's placement was as follows:

Banksia

B. subg. Banksia

B. sect. Banksia

B. ser. Salicinae (11 species, 7 subspecies)

B. ser. Grandes (2 species)

B. ser. Banksia (8 species)

B. ser. Crocinae (4 species)

B. ser. Prostratae (6 species, 3 varieties)

B. ser. Cyrtostylis (13 species)

B. ser. Tetragonae

B. lemanniana

B. caleyi

B. aculeata

B. ser. Bauerinae (1 species)

B. ser. Quercinae (2 species)

B. sect. Coccinea (1 species)

B. sect. Oncostylis (4 series, 22 species, 4 subspecies, 11 varieties)

B. subg. Isostylis (3 species)

Since 1998, Austin Mast has been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae. His analyses suggest a phylogeny that is rather different to previous taxonomic arrangements, but support the placement of the three species in a clade corresponding closely with B. ser. Tetragonae.

Early in 2007 Mast and Thiele initiated a rearrangement by transferring Dryandra to Banksia, and publishing B. subg. Spathulatae for the species having spoon-shaped cotyledons; in this way they also redefined the autonym B. subg. Banksia. They foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of Dryandra was complete; in the meantime, if Mast and Thiele's nomenclatural changes are taken as an interim arrangement, then B. lemanniana is placed in B. subg. Banksia.