Conservation
Banksia verticillata has been declared Vulnerable under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and Rare under Western Australia's Wildlife Conservation Act 1950. A 1995 census yielded an estimated total population size of 4500 plants. Apart from dieback and aerial canker, frequency of bushfires and illegal picking have been cited as threats. Ongoing management includes monitoring of current populations, gathering more data on best response to fire, and restricting access to populations. Seed has been collected from many populations, but germination rates after ten years of storage are much lower than in Banksia brownii. Translocation is considered an option in the future, as is spraying with phosphite, particularly in the vicinity of Walpole. Used successfully on B. brownii but as yet untrialled with B. verticillata, phosphite boosts the resistance of both infected and uninfected plants, and also acts as a direct fungicide. Aerial spraying of phosphite boosts plant survival and slows the spread of infection, but must be carefully managed as studies have shown that foliar spraying of phosphite adversely affects root and shoot growth.
Read more about this topic: Banksia Verticillata
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