Banksia falcata, commonly known as prickly dryandra, is a species of prickly, column-shaped shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has serrated or pinnatipartite leaves, heads of up to 150 yellow flowers and soft-hairy fruit. Description Banksia falcata is a column-shaped shrub that typically grows to a height of but does not form a lignotuber. It has undulating, serrated to pinnatipartite leaves that are wedge-shaped in outline, long and wide on a petiole long, with between seven and thirteen sharply-pointed teeth on each side. The flowers are borne on a head containing between 110 and 150 flowers in each head. There are linear to narrow lance-shaped involucral bracts long covered with rusty, woolly hairs at the base of the head. The flowers have a bright yellow perianth long and a yellow pistil long. Flowering occurs from September to November or January and the follicles are oval, long and covered with soft hairs. Taxonomy and naming This banksia was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in the journal Transactions of the Linnean Society of London and given the name Dryandra falcata. In 2007, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all the dryandras to the genus Banksia and this species became Banksia falcata. The specific epithet (falcata) is a Latin word meaning "falcate" or "shaped like a scythe or sickle". Distribution and habitat Banksia falcata grows in kwongan between the Stirling Range and Esperance in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Mallee biogeographic regions. References falcata Endemic flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773) Taxa named by Kevin Thiele