TERTIARY PROTEACEAE 
25 
of the most important characters separating this 
species from B. urniforme. 
Banksieaephyllum fastigatum (Deane) Cookson 
& Duigan 
Figs 1E-H, 2B 
Banksia fastigata Deane 1925: 494, text-fig. 140, pi. 
61, figs 1, 4, pi. 62, figs 6, 7?, pi. 63, fig. 13. 
Banksia adunca Deane 1925: 494-5, text-fig. 141, 
pi. 62, fig. 10, pi. 64, fig. 18. 
Banksieaephyllum fastigatum .—Cookson & 
Duigan 1950: 153, pi. 6, figs 43-48. 
Holotype o/Banksia adunca. NMV Pi 5128. 
Emended diagnosis. Leaves long, regularly ser¬ 
rate, about 15 mm wide and tapering at both 
base and apex. Serrations curved towards apex 
ofleaf; sinuses about 1/3 width from midvein to 
apex of serration. Secondary veins upwardly 
curved, with one terminating in each serration 
and one near each sinus. Cuticular pattern sug¬ 
gests that areoles are well-developed. Stomata 
situated in slight depressions, long axes of which 
tend to be oriented in one direction. Individual 
stomata appear to be slightly sunken below sur¬ 
face of surrounding epidermis. Lying parallel to 
pore of each stoma are two inconspicuous sub¬ 
sidiary cells, over which neighbouring epider¬ 
mal cells may project slightly. Stomatal appara¬ 
tus surrounded by 3-6 narrow cells which stain 
deeply. Epidermal parenchyma not uniform; 
most of its cells of medium size, with straight or 
curved, very thin and pitted walls in stomatal 
areas, and similar but somewhat thicker walls 
above veins. Amongst cells of parenchyma are 
scattered exceptionally small cells 4-6 pm in 
diameter, supporting hair bases of similar size. 
Cells over midvein small, square to quadrangu¬ 
lar, with moderately thick, unpitted walls; small 
hair bases sparsely developed. Cuticle longitudi¬ 
nally ridged. Upper epidermal cells above veins 
somewhat smaller than those of areas enclosed 
by veins; all have rather thin, unpitted, straight 
or slightly curved walls. 
Discussion Banksia adunca is distinct from 10 
of the 13 previously described fossil species, 
which either have entire leaf margins ( Bank¬ 
sieaephyllum acuminatum Cookson & Duigan, 
1950,5. laeve Cookson & Duigan, 1950 and B. 
obovatum Cookson &. Duigan, 1950), leaves that 
are divided into the mid vein (Banksieaephyllum 
cuneatum, B. incisum, B. elongation, B. pinna- 
turn and Banksieaeformis decurrens ), or leaves 
that are serrate with more than one secondary 
vein per serration (Banksieaephyllum regulare 
Hill & Christophel, 1988 and B. angustum 
Cookson Sc Duigan, 1950). 
Banksia adunca is similar in leaf morphology 
and venation pattern to Banksieaephyllum at¬ 
tenuation Hill Sc Christophel, 1988, B. fasti¬ 
gatum and Banksieaeformis dentatus Hill Sc 
Christophel (1988). The comparison with B. 
dentatus can be carried no further, since this spe¬ 
cies is not organically preserved (and hence is 
placed in a separate genus). Hill Sc Christophel 
(1988) noted the similarity between Bank¬ 
sieaephyllum attenuation and B. fastigatum , 
with the major difference being the superficial 
stomates in the former in comparison with the 
sunken stomates in the latter. In this and all 
other features observed, Banksia adunca is very 
similar to Banksieaephyllum fastigatum and its 
cuticular morphology is identical. Deane (1925) 
described differences in serration morphology 
but differences such as these commonly occur 
within extant species. It is concluded, therefore, 
that Banksia adunca and Banksieaephyllum 
fastigatum are synonymous. The name Bank¬ 
sieaephyllum fastigatum is retained for the spe¬ 
cies because this name was used by Cookson & 
Duigan (1950) and more recent authors (e.g. 
Blackburn 1981, Hill Sc Christophel 1988), and 
its continued use will avoid confusion for future 
workers. Since Banksia fastigata and B. adunca 
were described in the same paper, the choice is 
one of convenience since neither name has pri¬ 
ority. 
The diagnosis of B. fastigatum provided by 
Cookson & Duigan (1950) has been emended to 
accommodate the slightly different shape of the 
serrations in the holotype of Banksia adunca. 
DISCUSSION 
The coals of the Latrobe Valley have yielded 
eight species of Banksieaephyllum , three of them 
(B. laeve, B. obovatum and B. pinnatum) being 
widespread and relatively common in both the 
Yallourn and Morwell coal (Blackburn 1985), 
the others occurring infrequently and in some 
cases being known only from single specimens. 
It is clear, however, that this group was an 
important part of the vegetation which contri¬ 
buted to coal formation, and a study of the leaf 
form of these species is of major importance in 
understanding the environmental conditions 
under which the plants were growing. 
The leaves of all these species are relatively 
sclerophyllous in nature, a condition which is a 
