Bentham's arrangement stood until 1996, when Alex George published a revision of the genus in the journal Nuytsia. Dryandra sect. Eudryandra was discarded as invalid, and replaced by the autonym at subgenus rank, D. subg. Dryandra. Dryandra speciosa was retained in this subgenus, and in D. ser. Gymnocephalae, despite the latter having a significantly different circumscription in George's arrangement. In the same journal, George described two subspecies of D. speciosa: Dryandra speciosa subsp. speciosa that has between 85 and 115 flowers in each head and follicles long; Dryandra speciosa subsp. macrocarpa that has between 65 and 75 flowers in each head and follicles long. Since 1998, Austin Mast has been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae. His analyses have provided evidence of the paraphyly of Banksia with respect to Dryandra. Early in 2007, Mast and Kevin Thiele initiated a rearrangement of Banksia by merging Dryandra into it. As there was already a plant named Banksia speciosa (showy banksia), Mast and Thiele had to choose a new specific epithet for D. speciosa; their choice, splendida, is from the Latin splendidus ("brilliant"), in reference to the attractive inflorescences. No infrageneric arrangement has been proffered in replacement for the arrangement of George's now set aside. Mast and Thiele have foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of Dryandra is complete. The subspecies names splendida and macrocarpa are accepted by the Australian Plant Census. Distribution and habitat The two subspecies of shaggy dryandra grow in kwongan and occur in two disjunct areas. Subspecies splendida is found near Tammin and subsp. macrocarpa occurs between the Tathra National Park and Badgingarra. Conservation status Banksia splendida subsp. splendida is classified as "Priority Two" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations and subsp. macrocarpa is classified as "Priority Three" meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat. References splendida Endemic flora of Western Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1852 Taxa named by Carl Meissner