AusTraits

Banksia formosa

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Proteaceae

Taxonomy: Banksia formosa (R.Br.) A.R.Mast & K.R.Thiele

Synonyms: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Dryandra formosa R.Br. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Josephia formosa (R.Br.) Poir. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_1981 (3), ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (14), ANBG_2019 (3), Barrett_2009 (20), Burrows_2008_2 (5), Burrows_2020 (5), Chen_2017 (4), Clarke_2015 (3), Collette_2021 (1), Groom_2010 (2), Jordan_2020 (3), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kuo_1982 (21), Pekin_2011 (4), Pickup_2021 (5), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Standish_2019 (7), Sweedman_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wheeler_2002 (10). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 57 traits from 133 records in 25 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response
  • resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (10) [sources: Barrett_2009; Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Clarke_2015; Groom_2010; Pekin_2011; Pickup_2021; Standish_2019]
  • post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (5) [sources: Barrett_2009; Clarke_2015; Pickup_2021]
  • fire_time_from_fire_to_flowering (numerical): 36 mo (36-36 mo) [sources: Burrows_2020]
flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 12 mm (11-13 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): follicle (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Chen_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Chen_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (2) [sources: Chen_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 115 mm (70-160 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Wheeler_2002]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 8.5 mm (6-11 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Wheeler_2002]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 0.25 cm (0.2-0.3 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): linear (2); triangular (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; Wheeler_2002]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): lobed (1); unlobed (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; Wheeler_2002]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: ABRS_1981; Wheeler_2002]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (9) [sources: ABRS_2022; Barrett_2009; Pickup_2021; Standish_2019; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; Wheeler_2002]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (9) [sources: ABRS_2022; Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Jordan_2020; Pekin_2011; Standish_2019; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023; Wheeler_2002]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): bushy (1); erect (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: ABRS_1981]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (2) [sources: Pekin_2011; Standish_2019]
  • root_structure (categorical): proteoid_root (2) [sources: Pekin_2011; Standish_2019]
  • reproductive_maturity (numerical): 3 a (3-3 a) [sources: Burrows_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnyyyyn (1); nnnnyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: ABRS_1981; WAH_1998]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): canopy_seedbank (7) [sources: Barrett_2009; Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Pickup_2021; Standish_2019]
  • serotiny (categorical): serotiny_low (1) [sources: Groom_2010]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: Pickup_2021]
  • seed_dormancy_class (categorical): non_dormant (1) [sources: Collette_2021]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Clarke_2015]
nutrient and stable isotope
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 8.18 mg (6.49-10 mg) [sources: ANBG_2019; Kew_2019_1; Kuo_1982; Standish_2019]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 3.33 m (1-4 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; WAH_2023_2; Wheeler_2002]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Kuo_19822121J. Kuo, P. Hocking, and J. Pate. “Nutrient reserves in seeds of selected Proteaceous species from South-western Australia”. Australian Journal of Botany 30.1 (1982), pp. 231 - 249. doi: 10.1071/bt9820231.
Barrett_2009620S. Barrett, S. Comer, N. McQuoid, M. Porter, C. Tiller, and D. Utber. Identification and Conservation of Fire Sensitive Ecosystems and Species of the South Coast Natural Resource Management Region.. government. Department of Conservation and Land Management, South Coast Region, Western Australia, 2009.
ABRS_2023914Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Wheeler_2002810J. R. Wheeler, N. G. Marchant, and M. Lewington. Flora of the south west: Bunbury, Augusta, Denmark. Australian Biological Resources Study ; University of Western Australia Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780642568168.
Standish_201977R. Standish. “Unpublished data: Jarrah forest, Murdoch University”. 2019.
Burrows_2008_255N. D. Burrows, G. Wardell-Johnson, and B. Ward. “Post-fire juvenile period of plants in south-west Australia forests and implications for fire management”. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 91 (2008), pp. 163-174. ISSN: 0035922X. url: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19156 (visited on 03/27/2025).
Burrows_202055N. Burrows. Data from 'Plant Ecological Attributes' theme, NatureMap, DBCA, WA. 2020.
Pickup_202155M. Pickup and T. McDonald. Bushfire impacts — A national model for assessing local landscape restoration priorities. Project Phoenix Report. Greening Australia, 2021. url: https://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1.02R2.pdf.
ABRS_202244Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Chen_201744Chen, S.-C., Cornwell, W., Z. H.-X., Moles, and A. T. “Plants show more flesh in the tropics: Variation in fruit type along latitudinal and climatic gradients.”. Ecography 40 (2017), pp. 531-538. doi: abs/10.1111/ecog.02010.
Pekin_201144B. K. Pekin, R. S. Wittkuhn, M. M. Boer, C. Macfarlane, and P. F. Grierson. “Plant functional traits along environmental gradients in seasonally dry and fire-prone ecosystem”. Journal of Vegetation Science 22 (2011), pp. 1009-1020. doi: 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2011.01323.x.
Sjostrom_200644A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
Sweedman_200624L. Sweedman and D. Merritt. Australian Seeds: A Guide to Their Collection, Identification, and Biology. CSIRO Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780643094079.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
ABRS_198133B. A. Barlow, H. T. Clifford, A. S. George, and A. K. A. McCusker. Flora of Australia. 1981. url: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/flora/main/.
ANBG_201913Australian National Botanic Gardens. The National Seed Bank. 2018. url: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/living/seedbank/.
Clarke_201533P. J. Clarke, M. J. Lawes, B. P. Murphy, J. Russell-Smith, C. E. Nano, R. Bradstock, N. J. Enright, J. B. Fontaine, C. R. Gosper, I. Radford, J. J. Midgley, and R. M. Gunton. “A synthesis of postfire recovery traits of woody plants in Australian ecosystems”. Science of The Total Environment 534 (2015), pp. 31-42. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.002.
Jordan_202033G. J. Jordan, R. J. Carpenter, B. R. Holland, N. J. Beeton, M. D. Woodhams, and T. J. Brodribb. “Links between environment and stomatal size through evolutionary time in Proteaceae”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287.1919 (2020), p. 20192876. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2876.
Groom_201022P. K. Groom and B. B. Lamont. “Phosphorus accumulation in Proteaceae seeds: A synthesis”. Plant and Soil 334.1-2 (2010), pp. 61-72. doi: 10.1007/s11104-009-0135-6.
WAH_2023_212Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Collette_202111J. C. Collette and M. K. J. Ooi. “Distribution of seed dormancy classes across a fire-prone continent: effects of rainfall seasonality and temperature”. Annals of Botany 127.5 (2021), pp. 613-620. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcaa203.
Kew_2019_111Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
WAH_199811Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.