Five banksias every Australian gardener can recognise

The genus Banksia contains more than 170 species, almost all of them endemic to Australia. Most home gardens, parks, and nature strips along the southern and eastern coasts encounter only a handful of these in any regular way. Five species in particular have come to dominate the cultivated landscape, partly through nursery availability and partly through the visual force of their flower spikes — the dense, candle-like inflorescences that give the genus its instantly recognisable silhouette.

This is a short primer on those five, framed for the eye rather than the hand lens.

1. Banksia serrata — old man banksia

The species most people picture when they hear the word banksia. Native to the eastern coast from southern Queensland through New South Wales and into Victoria.

Look for:

• Leaves strongly serrated along the edge, like a steak knife. Up to 20cm long, leathery, dull green above and silver underneath.
• Flower spikes pale yellow to cream, sometimes greenish, held upright. The flowers themselves are small and packed by the thousand into a cylindrical column up to 16cm tall.
• Old cones that persist on the plant for years, weathering grey and developing the open-mouthed seed follicles that give the species its nickname — the old man. May Gibbs drew them as the ‘Big Bad Banksia Men’ in Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, and the association has stuck.

A slow grower, gnarled and twisting with age. Long-lived where it is left alone.

2. Banksia integrifolia — coast banksia

The hardiest of the commonly grown banksias and the one most likely to be found along east-coast headlands, dune systems, and exposed coastal gardens.

Look for:

• Leaves with entire (unserrated) margins — hence integrifolia. Adult leaves are oblong, leathery, dark green above and distinctly silver beneath. Younger leaves are sometimes serrated, which can mislead, so check the upper canopy.
• Flower spikes pale yellow, smaller than B. serrata, typically 10-12cm tall.
• Growth habit taller than most banksias — to 25 metres in sheltered positions, though more typically a 6-10 metre tree in the garden.

Tolerates salt spray, sandy soil, and wind. The default coastal banksia from the south coast of NSW through to far north Queensland.

3. Banksia menziesii — firewood banksia

Western Australian, and one of the most visually striking species in the genus. Common from Perth north along the Swan coastal plain.

Look for:

• Leaves serrated, but with a softer, more wavy edge than B. serrata. Long and narrow, often a slightly bluish green.
• Flower spikes the giveaway. Acorn-shaped rather than cylindrical, and coloured in graded bands — copper-pink at the base, orange through the middle, gold at the tip — sometimes all on the same spike at the same time. Few other banksias match this colouring.
• Cones large and woody, holding their seeds tightly until fire.

A southwest-Australian specialty; less common in eastern gardens but increasingly planted in dry-climate settings.

4. Banksia spinulosa — hairpin banksia

A smaller, more compact species, often grown as a screening shrub or low hedge along the east coast.

Look for:

• Leaves narrow, linear, edges rolled under and sometimes finely toothed near the tip. Dark green and dense on the branch.
• Flower spikes the defining feature — yellow-gold flowers with curved, dark-red or black styles that arc out from the spike like hairpins. The contrast of pale flower and dark style gives the spike a striped, almost combed appearance.
• Habit typically a shrub of 1-3 metres rather than a tree.

The cultivated form ‘Birthday Candles’, a dwarf selection bred for compact gardens, has become one of the most planted ornamental banksias in eastern Australia in recent years.

5. Banksia ericifolia — heath banksia

The fine-leaved banksia of the east-coast sandstone heaths and coastal scrublands.

Look for:

• Leaves very short and needle-like, only 1-2cm long, dense along the stem like a Mediterranean heath — which is where the species name ericifolia comes from (Erica being the heath genus).
• Flower spikes bright orange to red, narrow and densely packed, held above the foliage on long stems. Among the most saturated colours in the genus.
• Habit an upright, woody shrub to 4-5 metres, often with multiple trunks.

A reliable bird-attracting plant. Honeyeaters and lorikeets work the spikes through the cooler months when little else is flowering.

Telling them apart at a glance

If only the leaf is visible:

• Serrated edge, large leaf — B. serrata (east coast) or B. menziesii (WA).
• Entire edge, large leaf, silver underneath — B. integrifolia.
• Narrow leaf, rolled under — B. spinulosa.
• Tiny needle leaf — B. ericifolia.

If only the flower spike is visible:

• Pale yellow upright spike, large — B. serrata or B. integrifolia.
• Banded copper-orange-gold acorn — B. menziesii.
• Yellow with hairpin styles — B. spinulosa.
• Bright orange-red column above fine foliage — B. ericifolia.

The remaining 165-plus species are largely the province of Western Australia, where the genus reaches its diversity peak across the kwongan heathlands of the southwest. For the eastern Australian eye, these five cover most of what walks into the frame.

The plates in Banksia Folio Volume I include studies across the genus, with each plate’s footer naming the species in both common and botanical form.