No. 123. 
Banksia ericifolia, L.f. 
The Heath-leaved Honeysuckle. 
(Family PROTEACE^E.) 
Botanical description. —G-enus, Banksia. (See Part VIII, p. 169.) 
Botanical description.— Species, B. ericifolia, Linn. f. Suppl. 127 (1781). 
A tall shrub or small tree of 12 to 14 feet, glabrous except the inflorescence. 
Leaves crowded, narrow-linear, truncate or notched at the end and sometimes with an intermediate 
point, otherwise entire with closely revolute margins, rarely exceeding \ inch. 
Spikes cylindrical, 6 to 10 inches long. 
Bracts with broad shortly acuminate silky-pubescent tips. 
Perianth yellow, silky, the tube about | inch long, the limb ovoid. 
Style about 1 inch long, hooked, with a very short thick stigmatic end. 
Fruiting cones long and cylindrical. 
Capsules scarcely protruding, villous hut often becoming glabrous, the flat top | to 1 inch broad 
and 4 or 5 lines thick. (B.F1. v, 547.) 
“ White’s Voyage, tab. ad. p. 225, fig. 1, ‘ strobilus,’ ” is this species, according 
to Robert Brown. 
Botanical Name. — Banksia, already explained (see Part VIII, p. 170); 
ericifolia, from two Latin words signifying “ heath-leaved.” 
At the time at which it was described the heaths {Erica) were being abundantly 
forwarded to Europe from Cape Colony, attracting the special attention of botanists 
and horticulturists; hence a large number of new plants with narrow-linear leaves 
were named ericifolia. 
Vernacular Names. —It is somewhat singular that so prominent and 
beautiful a tree has received no common name, yet I believe such to be the case.'! 
Timber .—The trunk is usually so small that its timber is worthless from an 
economic standpoint. 
Size. —Up to 20 feet. This is one of the most beautiful of the Banksias, 
forming a round-topped small tree, with the branches concealing the trunk almost 
entirely, and forming a very ball of a tree, a mass of foliage. I have frequently 
cultivated the plant, and have encouraged others to do so, always, I believe, with 
satisfaction. If people would only set themselves to cultivate the native vegetation, 
they would be surprised at the beautiful and varied forms which would come under 
their cognizance. 
