Banksia spinulosa var. cunninghamii
(Sieber ex Rchb.) A.S.George Hairpin BanksiaErect shrub to c. 5 m high; lignotuber absent; bark thin, brown; branchlets finally glabrescent. Leaves scattered, linear or narrowly oblanceolate, 2–7 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, discolorous, upper surface green, more or less glabrous, lower surface pale brown, tomentose; apex mucronate; margins entire except for a few teeth towards apex, recurved to revolute; petiole 1–3 mm long. Inflorescence 10–20 cm long, 6–7 cm wide at anthesis. Tepals 20–30 mm long, golden-yellow, hairy, persistent in fruit; style hooked below apex, usually purplish-black, pale yellowish at base (rarely entirely yellow), deciduous. Follicles to c. 100, 10–24 mm long, crowded, finally glabrescent except at base; opening with or without fire. Body of seed c. semi-elliptic, 6–10 mm long, wing to c. 20 mm long. Flowers mainly Apr.–Jul.
GipP, CVU, EGL, EGU, WPro, HSF, HNF, Strz, VAlp. Also Qld, NSW. Apart from isolated western occurrences at Mt Clay near Portland and Point Lonsdale, apparently confined to foothill open-forests and heathy woodlands of eastern Victoria on and south of the Great Dividing Range, but often locally common.
Jeanes, J.A. (1996). Proteaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 830–887. Inkata Press, Melbourne.