Today on my walk around the suburb my attention was drawn to an usual sight. A Banksia plant was displaying several stages of the Banksia cycle all at once. There are over a 170 species of Banksias ranging in size and shape, with all but one of them native to Australia. They were first discovered by and consequently named after Sir Joseph Banks when Captain Cook discovered Australia in 1770. They are a truly an Australian original.
The photo below shows the flower in bloom. This flower was one of the last for the season.
This photograph shows the cone after the flowers have dropped off. It is here that the seeds are stored in pods until opening up. For many Banksia species this is triggered by heat – bushfires or drying out.
I love the contradiction in this photo as it shows a new cone with pods developing as well as a dried out empty cone.
In Australia the dried out cone has inspired many craft and woodwork creations. However, in many ways their greatest claim to fame is being the inspiration for May Gibbs’s Big Bad Banksia Men in her Snugglepot and Cuddlepie books. The Banksia men were the villians. They were always out to create trouble. Owing to the commonness of the species, dried cone can be found everywhere so growing up every child could relate to them. I’m sure my family wasn’t the only one to create their own Banksia boys adventures.
Photo credit: May Gibbs books.
Very interesting! I haven’t heard about Banksia plants before. The flower in bloom is lovely, very particular! It reminds me of the Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia) that we have here.
May Gibbs was such an inspiration. I mentioned her in a recent post where I shared a few photos I’d taken of local flannel flowers, and mentioned her Flannel Flower Babies: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2021/10/18/floating-with-the-flannel-flowers/ I also included Banksia in my photos today.
I hope you have had a great week.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Great minds think alike.
Interesting plant, how the seed pods are beneath the blossoms. The Banksia men are a crack up.
Some people are so creative.
What an interesting plant! Thank you for sharing something unique from Australia and your beautiful photos with #weekendcoffeeshare.
What an interesting plant. I love learning about nature, life from all over the world.