Banksias

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Several Australian shrubs or trees of the protea family that bear dense cone-like flower spikes and woody seed pods
2. Groups of native Australian plants with bristly cylindrical flower heads, valued by gardeners for their striking blossoms
3. Evergreen Australian woody plants of the protea family, known for their distinctive brush-like flowers and hard fruiting cones

Etymology: "Banksias" is the plural of "banksia", a noun for the Australian shrubs and small trees whose woody cones and bottlebrush flowers are familiar across the continent. The singular was borrowed from Translingual Banksia, the botanical genus name, which honours Sir Joseph Banks, the naturalist who collected specimens of the plants during Captain James Cook's voyage to Australia in 1770. The genus was established by Carl Linnaeus's son, Carl Linnaeus the Younger, in 1782, so the name is a scientific coinage rather than an older common word. Its use in English is therefore simply the plural of that Latinised genus name, applied to the many species within it.