Banksia chamaephyton, commonly known as the fishbone banksia, is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has prostrate, underground stems, pinnatipartite leaves, cream-coloured and brown flowers arranged in spikes surrounded by hairy bracts. It grows in kwongan near the lower west coast.
Banksia chamaephyton is a shrub that typically grows to high and wide and forms a lignotuber. It has prostrate, underground stems in diameter and hairy when young. The leaves are erect, long, wide on a petiole long and has between ten and thirty linear lobes on each side. The flowers are cream-coloured with a brown tip and arranged in a head long surrounded at the base by velvety involucral bracts. The perianth is long and the pistil curved and long. Flowering occurs from late October to early December and there are up to fifteen elliptic follicles in each head, the follicles long, high and wide.[1] [2] [3]
Banksia chamaephyton was first formally described in 1981 by Alex George from specimens he collected west of Mogumber in 1971.[4] The specific epithet (chamaephyton) is derived from ancient Greek words meaning "low-growing" and "plant", referring to the prostrate habit of this species.
Fishbone banksia grows in kwongan between Eneabba and Mogumber.
This banksia is classified as "Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, meaning that is rare or near threatened.[5]
Seeds do not require any treatment, and take around 25 days to germinate.[6]