Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Banksia paludosa
Swamp Banksia
Proteaceae
Dry forest, woodland, heath, on sandstone ridges, and near swamps and creeks.
subsp. astrolux: Ranges between Lake Burragorang and west of Bargo.
subsp. paludosa: Coast, ranges, and the eastern edge of the tablelands.
Shrub to 5 m high. Bark more or less smooth. Branchlets rusty hairy, soon becoming hairless. Leaves whorled or alternating up the stems, 4–13 cm long, 10–30 mm wide, lower surface white-hairy, becoming more or less hairless, midrib and lateral veins yellowish to brown, margins entire to toothed, tips blunt with a short mucro. Flower heads 70–130 mm long, of many flowers. Individual flowers golden brown, becoming gold after the flowers open, with 4 'petals' each 16–20 mm long, splitting to the base when the flowers are fully open. Styles straight except for a slight bend near the tip, gold to cream, more or less remaining on the mature cone. Cones 70–130 mm long. Flowers April–July. Seeds with one wing.
subsp. astrolux: Shrub to 5 m high, lignotuber absent.
subsp. paludosa: Shrub to 2 m high, lignotuber present.
PlantNET description of species and key to subspecies: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Banksia~paludosa (accessed 30 April 2021)
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