Swamp banksia (Banksia littoralis)
Swamp banksia is associated with swamps, as its name implies, and also other water-bodies, such as lakes, rivers and streams, and in the Perth area occurs both on the coastal plain and in the Darling Range.
It is probably Perth’s largest banksia. Some of Perth’s other banksias — candle banksia (Banksia attenuata), holly-leaf banksia (Banksia ilicifolia) and saw-tooth banksia (Banksia prionotes) — grow to a similar height, up to 10 metres tall. But swamp banksia spreads wider, and its trunk and branches grow thicker — and occasionally, in dense vegetation, it can grow taller too. Thick-trunked specimens look quite old.
© Text and photographs: Robert Powell