 Flowers occur in a typical Banksia flower spike , an inflorescence made up of hundreds of small individual flowers , or florets , densely packed around a cylindrical axis . B. prionotes has cream @-@ coloured flowers with a bright orange limb that is not revealed until the flower fully opens . Known as anthesis , this process sweeps through the inflorescence from bottom to top over a period of days , creating the effect of a cream inflorescence that progressively turns bright orange . The old flower parts fall away after flowering finishes , revealing the axis , which may bear up to 60 embedded follicles . Oval or oblong in shape and initially covered in fine hairs , these follicles are from 14 to 20 mm ( 1 ⁄ 2 to 3 ⁄ 4 in ) long and 6 – 11 mm ( 1 ⁄ 4 – 3 ⁄ 8 in ) wide , and protrude 3 – 6 mm ( 1 ⁄ 8 – 1 ⁄ 4 in ) from the cone . Inside , they bear two seeds separated by a brownish woody seed separator . The matte blackish seeds are wedge @-@ shaped ( cuneate ) and measure 8 – 10 mm ( 3 ⁄ 8 – 3 ⁄ 8 in ) long by 5 – 6 mm ( 1 ⁄ 4 – 1 ⁄ 4 in ) wide with a membranous ' wing ' . 
