Banksia

[Michael]

I would like to request some help from the Australian experts to help me ID these plants. The place where i got them said it would supply me the correct ID, but i went there and they still cant figure out some species. I have been trying to ID them on the internet, but i always end up pulling my hairs out as the leaves of related species are so identical!

Here are a few pictures, firstly a leaf detail, and then the whole plant.

[Michael]

Banks praemorsa maybe? Sometimes the leaves match, sometimes they don't, as the ones i see on internet seem smaller. Does this species has heterophylly like Eucalyptus does?

[Michael]

I would bet this one is B. coccinea, but still not sure, as some coccinea's leaves seem much more truncate than mine.

[Michael]

Banksia hookeriana??

[Michael]

This one may be the easiest to identify, (B. ericifolia), but still i would like to get a confirmation from the experts.

[Michael]

Banksia ashbyi? The leaf pictures I see on the internet are serrated only once, mine has the tendency to have doubly serrated margins, but still seems to be the closest one to B. ashbyi :S

[Michael]

Now this one can be B. baxteri or B. grandis as the leaves look identical.

[Michael]

Now last, but not least, people whom i bought the following plant almost swore an oath that this warratah would be the cultivar Telopea "Wirrimbirra White". Any way of knowing just by the leaf pigmentation itself?

[Carlo]

Interesting looking stuff Michael. I can't help but will keep watching to see what they are. Love the Proteaceae...

[Lesley Cox]

Most interesting foliage Michael and you have a nice collection. I can't help at all with ID though. Now, if you'd posted a series of Grevillea pics.....I couldn't help with those either.

[Michael]

Lesley, I guess Grevilleas are easier to ID as they look quite dissimilar, but i'm not used to deal with Banksia species and my knowledge about them is quite limited.

[Diane Whitehead]

I visited Banksia Farm in Western Australia where Kevin and Kathy
Collins grow every species of Banksia.  They were blooming when
I was there - what a treat!

I bought Banksias, the book they had just written as co-authors with Alex George
( who wrote The Banksia Book in 1984 and revised it in 1987 and 1996)

Banksias has photos of all the species, descriptions, cultivation and
propagation information.  Special attention is paid to pointing out how to
differentiate similar species.

The  European collections mentioned are at Lees Netherlands, Burgschwalbach
Germany, Vienne France and Marazion Cornwall U.K.

Perhaps you could visit them to help identify your plants. 

The Netherlands garden did not list which species they are growing,
but they have 50 species, and of these, 33 have flowered.

The other gardens did not list everything they grow, just ones that have
either died, or flowered. 

Of the species you mentioned, coccinea and grandis died in Germany.
Grandis grew very large in Cornwall, was snapped off in a storm, but
is growing again from the base.

Ericifolia has done well and flowered everywhere.  It flowered in only
three years from seed in France.

Hookeriana flowered in three years from seed in France.

Praemorsa flowers in Cornwall and Germany.