738 Banksia Ericaefolia

Banksia Ericæfolia. Heath-Leaved

Banksia.

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Class and Order.

Tetrandra Monogynia.

Generic Character.

Amenatum squamatum. Cor. 4-petala. Antheræ in cavitatelaminarum sessiles. Caps. bivalvis. Sem. bipartibile. L. sup.

Specific Character and Synonyms.

BANKSIA ericæfolia ; soliis approximatis acerosis truncato-emarginatis glabris. Linn. Suppl. p. 127. Willd.Sp. Pl. 1. 536. Bot. Repos. 156. Cavan. Icon.vol. 6. t. 538.

The Banksia, a genus so named in honour of its first dis-coverer, the President of the Royal Society, in a voyageround the world with Captain Cook, is very nearly allied toProtea, and like that appears to contain a great number ofspecies of very various forms and size. Our present plantforms a handsome shrub, thrives freely, and has flowered inseveral collections; our drawing was taken from that ofE. J. A. Woodford, Esq. at Vauxhall, in April 1802.

The beauty of the flower consists very much in the lengthof the style; which, from the stigma being long retainedwithin the anthers, is fanciful bent into a loop: when theefflorescence is complete, the petals expand and let the stigmaat liberty. The flower is considered by some as monopetalous,but the petals, in Banksia ericæfolia at least, adhere so lightlyat the base only, that they can hardly be kept from separatingwhen removed from the receptacle. The germen in this spe-cies is surrounded with brown hairs very like that of many ofthe Proteæ. We could not discover any other calyx thanthe squama of the Amentum, in no respect like that describedby Gærtner. A native of New-Holland. By no meanstender and may be kept in a greenhouse with Proteas andother Cape shrubs. Propagated by seeds and by cuttings.