One new Banksia and two new Grevillea species (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae) from Western Australia

Olde, Peter M. and Marriott, Neil R. One new Banksia and two new Grevillea species (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae) from Western Australia. Nuytsia 15(1): 85-99 (2002). Banksia rosserae P. Olde & N. Marriott, a new species of Banksia R. Br., Grevillea kirkalocka P. Olde & N. Marriott and G. squiresae P. Olde & N. Marriott, two new species of Grevillea R. Br. (Proteaceae: Grevilleoideae) are described. Their affinities are discussed and keys are provided. All of the new species have conservation priority. Three newly discovered species in the Western Austrlian Proteaceae are described here. The discovery of Grevillea squiresae, in the South West Botanical Province is not surprising, given the biodiversity of south-west Western Australia and the rising base of knowledge about its flora in particular. That two new members of the Proteaceae, Banksia rosserae and Grevillea kirkalocka, should be discovered in the same place in the Eremaean Province of the vast arid zone highlights our still restricted knowledge about the Australian flora, which has been largely built from collections on public roadsides. These two discoveries in the Mount Magnet area result from plant surveys on private and reserve land, an increasingly important resource in the emergence of new species. The existence of areas of deep yellow sand heath in this region is not widely known and these areas have only recently been sampled botanically. Banksia rosserae is geographically isolated from the remainder of its genus and is the only species that occurs exclusively in a desert region.