Taxonomy of Banksia - Taxonomic History

Taxonomic History

Specimens of Banksia were first collected by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Daniel Solander, naturalists on the Endeavour during Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Cook landed on Australian soil for the first time on 29 April 1770, at a place that he later named Botany Bay in recognition of "the great quantity of plants Mr Banks and Dr Solander found in this place". Over the next seven weeks, Banks and Solander collected thousands of plant specimens, including the first specimens of a new genus that would later be named Banksia in Banks' honour. Four species were present in this first collection: B. serrata (Saw Banksia), B. integrifolia (Coast Banksia), B. ericifolia (Heath-leaved Banksia) and B. robur (Swamp Banksia). In June the ship was careened at Endeavour River, where specimens of B. dentata (Tropical Banksia) were collected.

Every specimen collected during the Endeavour voyage was sketched by Banks' botanical illustrator Sydney Parkinson. On the Endeavour's return to England in July 1771, Banks' specimens became part of his London herbarium, and artists were employed to paint watercolours from Parkinson's sketches. Banks had plans to publish his entire collection as "Banks' Florilegium", but for various reasons the project was never completed, and it would be ten years before any of the Banksia species were formally published. By this time, a sixth species had been collected; in 1776, during Cook's third voyage, David Nelson collected specimens of B. marginata (Silver Banksia) from South Bruny Island, Tasmania.

The Banksia genus was finally described and named by Carolus Linnaeus the Younger in his April 1782 publication Supplementum Plantarum; hence the full name for the genus is "Banksia L.f.". Linnaeus placed the genus in class Tetrandra, order Monogynia of his father's classification, and named it in honour of Banks. The name Banksia had in fact already been published in 1775 as Banksia J.R.Forst & G.Forst, referring to some New Zealand species that the Forsters had collected during Cook's second voyage. However Linnaeus incorrectly attributed the Forsters' specimens to the genus Passerina, and therefore considered the name Banksia available for use. By the time Joseph Gaertner corrected Banks' error in 1788, Banksia L.f. was widely known and accepted, so Gaertner renamed Banksia J.R.Forst & G.Forst to Pimelia, a name previously chosen for the genus by Banks and Solander.

Banksia L.f. has since been challenged a number of times. The later near-homonym Banksea Koenig was published in 1783, but subsequently determined to be a synonym of Costus L. In 1790 James Bruce published Bankesia Bruce, later corrected to Banksia Bruce, but the name was rejected in favour of Johann Friedrich Gmelin's name Hagenia. In 1820 the name Banksia Dombey ex DC. was published, but this was later determined by be a nomen nudum that referred to the genus Cuphea, In 1891, Otto Kuntze proposed to enforce the right of precedent of Banksia J.R.Forst & G.Forst, renaming Pimelea to Banksia, and proposing the name Sirmuellera Kuntze in place of Banksia L.f. This challenge failed, as did James Britten's 1905 challenge. In 1940, Banksia L.f. was formally conserved against Banksia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst by Thomas Sprague.

In 1810, Robert Brown published descriptions and a taxonomic arrangement of the 31 known species of Banksia in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. He placed B. ilicifolia alone in subgenus Isostylis, in recognition of its unusual dome-shaped inflorescence. All other species were placed in subgenus Banksia verae, the "True Banksias". Brown made no attempt to classify the species below the subgenus level. He described another eleven Banksia species in his 1830 supplement, placing them all in Banksia verae in accordance with his 1810 classification. Banksia verae was renamed Eubanksia by Stephan Endlicher in 1847.

By the time Carl Meissner published his 1856 classification of the Proteaceae, there were 58 described Banksia species. Meissner's arrangement gave Isostylis and Eubanksia sectional rank, and divided the latter into four series based on leaf properties; these series were all highly heterogeneous.

George Bentham published his arrangement of the Banksia in his landmark 1870 publication Flora Australiensis. The number of recognised Banksia species was reduced to 46, and Meissner's four heterogeneous series were replaced by four sections based on leaf, style and pollen-presenter characters, taking the number of sections to five. Three of these sections were fairly well-defined and homogeneous, while another, Orthostylis, was somewhat heterogeneous. The fourth, Cyrtostylis, was erected to contain the species that did not belong in the other sections, and was therefore highly heterogeneous. Despite these shortcomings, this arrangement would stand for over 100 years.