38 



Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Jan., 1917. 



branches, or even on some flowering specimens, some or all the leaves 

 are much larger, more or less toothed, all leaves very white underneath 

 (hence the common name). , , • , , • ,^ 



Flower spikes oblong, cylindrical, 2 to 3, rarely 4 inches long ; m some 

 dwarf varieties nearly globular. . ^ ,.i ; u 



Fruit cone oblong, cylindrical; seed capsules prominent, not thick, 

 rounded i inch broad, at first covered with hair. 



The wood is soft, porous, and spongy; when dead, and m a certain 

 stage of decay, it makes the best fuel for the beekeepers smoker, the 

 smoke given off being clean, cool, and of not unpleasant odour. 



Fig. 59. 



The flower yields nectar and pollen freely after good autumn rains^ 

 The honey is .somewhat strong, and candies quickly. The Silver Bank^a 

 blossoms in some districts from February to May , m others from Apnl 

 to July. Near the Grampians, there is a dwarf form as well as the 

 normal type, from which it in no way differs botanically. . 



In many localities where the Silver Banksia was formerly Plentiful it 

 is now almost extinct. The former trees have died of °lf . ^^g^' °'", 'l^^ 

 been cut down in drought seasons as feed for stock, by which the leaves 

 are so readily eaten, that no seedlings survive. 



