Numbers five and (tomorrow's) six in the series of photographs of Australian plants take us to Ganna Walska Lotusland in Montecito, California to visit a couple plants in cultivation.

When last I posted a banksia on BPotD, Banksia baxteri, I used a common name for that species which should have instead been applied to today's species: woolly banksia or woollybear banksia. A third common name is also used, possum banksia.

While the common name is perhaps obvious, the scientific name deserves a bit of explanation. Banksia baueri was named in honour of Ferdinand Bauer (more) by Robert Brown. I haven't been able to track down the source of the quote, but Ferdinand Bauer has been described as “the supreme botanical draughtsman, the Leonardo of natural history painting”. Professor David Mabberley, well-admired by us here at UBC for his botanical work, wrote a book about Bauer, Ferdinand Bauer – The Nature of Discovery (link to Amazon), featuring 62 colour plates of Bauer's famed illustrations.

Banksia baueri is native to Western Australia, where it grows in sandy soils. Two other links of note about this species: 1) “Banjorah” aka Cathy, an Australian terrestrial orchid enthusiast and photographer, has a web site full of interesting photographs, including this series on the development of a Banksia baueri inflorescence; and 2) the technical description of Banksia baueri from the Flora of Australia Online.