Banksia kingii Jordan & Hill (1991:505-506)
King's banksia (proposed)
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
"Etymology: In recognition of C. D. King, who found the fossils."
(Jordan & Hill, 1991:505)
"In 1974, Deny's [Charles Denison 'Deny' King] help was again sought, this time collecting a species of banksia described as Banksia insularis by Matthew Flinders' botanist, Robert Brown in 1802, and also for locating fossil leaf material. Interest stimulated, Deny later sent specimens of ancient banksia fragments unearthed in mining, which he believed to be undescribed. Scientists, however, thought they were probably the common Banksia marginata, so they joined the uncatalogued backlog. Finally analysed in 1991, they were recognised as a hitherto unknown species, now extinct. They had been preserved in a sedimentary bed at least 38 000 years earlier. The species was named Banksia kingii, in recognition of Deny. Palaeobotanist Dr Greg Jordan wrote 'He discovered the deposit, encouraged its study and gave freely of his local knowledge and hospitality.'"
(Mattingley, 2001b:10)
Conservation Status
Extinct (Jordan & Hill, 1991; Jordan, 1995)
Last record: Late Pleistocene (Jordan & Hill, 1991)
Distribution
south-west Tasmania, Australia
Type locality: "Late Pleistocene sediments at Melaleuca Inlet, south-west Tasmania." (Jordan & Hill, 1991:505)
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
Above: "Probable B. kingii infructescence" (Jordan & Hill, 1991:508,509), later reproduced by (Mattingley, 2001a,b:9) as definitely B. kingii. Photo: Greg Jordan (CC BY-SA 2.5). Source: Wikimedia Commons.
References
Original scientific description:
Jordan, Gregory J. and Hill, Robert S. (1991). Two new Banksia species from Pleistocene sediments in western Tasmania. Australian Systematic Botany 4(3): 499-511. https://doi.org/10.1071/SB9910499
Other references:
Hill, Robert S., Scriven, Leonie J. and Jordan, Gregory J. (1995). The fossil record of Australian Proteaceae, pp. 21-30. In: McCarthy, Patrick (ed.). Flora of Australia Volume 16, Elaeagnaceae, Proteaceae 1. Melbourne: CSIRO Australia. xxi + 522 pp.
Jordan, Gregory J. (1992). Macrofossil evidence for Quaternary plant extinction and vegetation change in western Tasmania. PhD thesis, The Department of Plant Science, University of Tasmania.
Jordan, Gregory J. (1995). Early-Middle Pleistocene leaves of extinct and extant Proteaceae from western Tasmania, Australia. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 118(1): 19-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.1995.tb00458.x
Jordan, Gregory J. (2005). Banksia kingii. Banksia Study Group Newsletter 6(2): 3.
Jordan, Gregory J., Carpenter, Raymond J. and Hill, Robert S. (1991). Late Pleistocene Vegetation and Climate Near Melaleuca Inlet, South-Western Tasmania. Australian Journal of Botany 39(4): 315-333. https://doi.org/10.1071/BT9910315
Mattingley, Christobel. (2001a). King of the Wilderness: The Life of Deny King. Melbourne: Text Publishing.
Mattingley, Christobel. (2001b). What an exciting find! Deny King's contributions to science. National Library of Australia News XII(3): 7-10. [December 2001 issue]
Mattingley, Christobel. (2003). Christobel Mattingley, on Robyn Williams' ABC Radio program Ockhams Razor broadcast Sunday 16 February 2003. [audio no longer available]
Olde, Peter M. (2017). A preliminary checklist of fossil names in extant genera of the Proteaceae. Telopea 20: 289-324. http://dx.doi.org/10.7751/telopea10644