Banksia cypholoba

Banksia cypholoba is a prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3 m (1 ft 0 in) and has short, underground, fire-tolerant stems. It has pinnatipartite leaves that are 120–200 mm (4.7–7.9 in) long and 8–20 mm (0.31–0.79 in) wide on a hairy petiole 10–40 mm (0.39–1.57 in) long, with between twenty-five and forty triangular lobes on each side. The flowers are borne on a head containing between fifty and sixty flowers. There are narrow lance-shaped to egg-shaped, green and brownish involucral bracts 20–28 mm (0.79–1.10 in) long covered with rusty brown hairs, at the base of the head. The flowers have a pale pinkish brown perianth 27–37 mm (1.1–1.5 in) long and a lemon-yellow pistil 41–47 mm (1.6–1.9 in) long. Flowering occurs in August and the fruit is a mostly glabrous egg-shaped follicle 13–16 mm (0.51–0.63 in) long.[2][3][4]

This banksia was first formally described in 1996 by Alex George in the journal Nuytsia and given the name Dryandra cypholoba from specimens he collected in 1986 near Warradarge.[2][5] In 2007, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all the dryandras to the genus Banksia and this species became Banksia cypholoba.[6][7] The specific epithet (cypholoba) is derived from Greek words meaning "bent" or "humped" and "a lobe", referring to the lobes of the leaves.[2]

Banksia cypholoba grows in kwongan or in thick scrub between Arrino and the Alexander Morrison National Park in the Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic region.[2][4]

This banksia is classified as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife[4] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.[8]