Banksia oreophila

Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the south west of Western Australia

speciesbox
|name = Western mountain banksia
|image = Banksia oreophila Western Mountain Banksia. JPG
|image caption = Banksia oreophila on Bluff Knoll
|genus = Banksia
|parent = Banksia subg. Banksia
|species = oreophila
|authority = A. S. George
|synonyms ref = or mountain banksia, is a species of shrub that is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. It has glabrous stems, wedge shaped or narrow egg shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, cylindrical spikes of pale pink to mauve flowers and later, up to twenty follicles in each spike, surrounded by the remains of the flowers. It occurs on slopes and hilltops in the Stirling and Barren Ranges.

Banksia oreophila is a shrub that typically grows to a height of but does not form a lignotuber. It has smooth grey or pale brown bark. The leaves are wedge shaped to narrow egg shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a petiole long. The edges of the leaves are only sparsely serrated, if at all. The flowers are pale mauve to pink and arranged in a cylindrical spike long and wide when the flowers open. There are tapering involucral bracts long at the base of the spike. The perianth is long and the pistil long and wiry. Flowering occurs from June to July and there are up to twenty elliptic to oblong follicles long, wide in each spike, surrounded by the remains of the old flowers.

This banksia was first formally described in 1869 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae and was given the name Banksia quercifolia var. integrifolia. In 1981, Alex George promoted it to species rank, however, as there was already a plant named Banksia integrifolia (coast banksia), George chose the name Banksia oreophila, from Greek words meaning "mountain loving", referring to the habitat of this banksia. George placed B. oreophila in subgenus Banksia, section Banksia, series Quercinae.

Banksia oreophila grows in rocky places in low heath or shrubland, mostly on the upper slopes and summits of the Stirling Range and Barrens.