Banksia caleyi

Australian species of shrub, the red lantern banksia

Speciesbox
|image = Banksia caleyi 2. JPG
|genus = Banksia
|species = caleyi
|authority = R. Br. |synonyms ref = The inflorescences eventually turn grey, the old flowers remaining as up to 25 large woody follicles develop. Oval in shape and covered with fine hair, the follicles can reach long, high, and wide. The obovate seed is long and fairly flattened, and is composed of the wedge shaped seed body proper, measuring long and 1.6–1.7 cm (5/8 in) wide, and a papery wing. One side, termed the outer surface, is dark brown and wrinkled, while the other is black and smooth. Both surfaces sparkle slightly. The seeds are separated by a sturdy dark brown seed separator that is roughly the same shape as the seeds with a depression where the seed body sits adjacent to it in the follicle. Seedlings have cuneate cotyledons which measure long and 1.3–1.4 cm (1/2 in) wide. These are dull green with three veins, and the margin of the wedge may be red and crenulated (lined with small teeth). The hypocotyl is red and measures high. Seedlings have hairy stems and leaves that are oppositely arranged (arising from the stem in pairs) that are obovate with triangular lobed serrate margins. naming it in honour of the English botanist George Caley. The type specimen was collected by William Baxter, inland from King George Sound on Western Australia's south coast, in 1829. Carl Meissner placed B. caleyi in series Quercinae in his 1856 arrangement of the genus on account of its strongly dentate, cuneate to obovate leaves. As they were defined on leaf characters alone, all of Meissner's series were highly heterogeneous. Meissner also described B. caleyi variety sinuosa from material collected by James Drummond, In 1891, Otto Kuntze, in his Revisio Generum Plantarum, rejected the generic name Banksia L. f., on the grounds that the name Banksia had previously been published in 1776 as Banksia J. R. Forst & G. Forst, referring to the genus now known as Pimelea. Kuntze proposed Sirmuellera as an alternative, referring to this species as Sirmuellera caleyi. This application of the principle of priority was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries, and Banksia L. f. was formally conserved and Sirmuellera rejected in 1940. In his 1981 monograph The genus Banksia L. f. (Proteaceae), Alex George placed B. caleyi in B. subg. Banksia because its inflorescence is a typical Banksia flower spike shape; in B. sect. Banksia because of its straight styles; and B. ser. Tetragonae because of its pendulous inflorescences. He considered its closest relative to be B. aculeata, which has narrower leaves with fewer, larger lobes; longer perianths, which grade from red to cream rather than from cream to red; shorter pistils; and also differences in the follicles, seeds and flowering time. B. caleyis placement in Thiele and Ladiges' arrangement may be summarised as follows:

Early in 2007, Mast and Thiele initiated a rearrangement by transferring Dryandra to Banksia, and publishing B. subg. Spathulatae for the species having spoon shaped cotyledons; in this way, they also redefined the autonym B. subg. Banksia. They have refrained from publishing a full arrangement of Banksia until DNA sampling of Dryandra is complete; in the meantime, if Mast and Thiele's nomenclatural changes are taken as an interim arrangement, then B. caleyi is placed in B. subg. Banksia.

Banksia caleyi is found near the southern coast of Western Australia, from South Stirling to the West River and northeast to Pingrup. Some of its population lies within Fitzgerald River National Park. Often locally abundant,

Like many plants in south west Western Australia, Banksia caleyi is adapted to an environment in which bushfire events are relatively frequent. Most Banksia species can be placed in one of two broad groups according to their response to fire: Reseeders are killed by fire, but fire triggers the release of their canopy seed bank, thus promoting recruitment of the next generation. Resprouters survive fire, resprouting from a lignotuber or, more rarely, epicormic buds protected by thick bark. B. caleyi belongs to the reseeder group. In the wild, seedlings take at least three to four years to reach flowering after bushfire. The fungal pathogen Botryosphaeria ribis has been recovered from B. caleyi. The caterpillar of the dryandra moth (Carthaea saturnioides) feeds on the leaves, though it prefers to eat those of dryandra species that grow alongside it. The upside down flower spikes drip nectar onto the ground or lower leaves, suggesting pollination by nonflying mammals which are attracted to the scent. Supporting this hypothesis, the spiky leaves seem to also prevent access to foragers not at ground level. Banksia caleyi is a medium slow growing plant, taking four to five years to flower from seed. The flowers are attractive but are obscured by the foliage. This species can grow in a range of soil types so long as they provide good drainage. The nominal soil pH range is from 6 to 7.5. It grows in full sun and partly shaded situations, and tolerates light pruning. Unlike many other Western Australian banksias, Banksia caleyi has had some degree of success in growing in more humid areas, such as Australia's east coast. It attracts pygmy and honey possums in the garden.