Banksia fililoba

Banksia fililoba is a tangled shrub that typically grows to a height of 1 m (3 ft 3 in) but does not form a lignotuber. It has hairy stems and deeply pinnatipartite leaves that are 150–300 mm (5.9–11.8 in) long and 7–14 mm (0.28–0.55 in) wide on a petiole 50–150 mm (2.0–5.9 in) long. There are between ten and seventeen sharply-pointed, linear leaves 50–150 mm (2.0–5.9 in) long on each side of the leaves. The flowers are borne on a head containing between fifty-five and eighty flowers in each head. There are egg-shaped to oblong involucral bracts 25–42 mm (0.98–1.65 in) long, densely covered with silky, rusty brown hairs at the base of the head. The flowers have a pale yellow perianth 50–53 mm (2.0–2.1 in) long and a cream-coloured pistil 49–52 mm (1.9–2.0 in) long. Flowering mainly occurs from May to July and the follicles are egg-shaped, about 17 mm (0.67 in) long and hairy at first.[2][3][4]

This banksia was first formally described in 1996 by Alex George in the journal Nuytsia from specimens he collected near Lake Grace, and given the name Dryandra fililoba.[4][5] In 2007, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all the dryandras to the genus Banksia and this species became Banksia fililoba.[6][7] The specific epithet (fililoba) is from Latin words meaning "a thread" and "a lobe" referring to the fine lobes of the leaves.[4]

Banksia fililoba grows in kwongan, sometimes in wandoo woodland, between Woodanilling, Lake Grace and Harrismith in the Avon Wheatbelt and Mallee biogeographic regions.[2][3]

This banksia is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.[3]