 Banksia violacea grows as a shrub up to 1 @.@ 5 m ( 5 ft ) tall , with narrow leaves 1 – 2 cm ( 0 @.@ 4 – 0 @.@ 8 in ) long and about 0 @.@ 15 cm ( 0 @.@ 06 in ) wide . New growth occurs in summer , and flowering ranges from November to April with a peak in February , but can be irregular in timing . Flowers arise from typical Banksia " flower spikes " , and the inflorescences are made up of hundreds of pairs of flowers densely packed in a spiral around a woody axis . Roughly spherical with a diameter of 2 – 3 cm ( 0 @.@ 8 – 1 @.@ 2 in ) , the flower spikes arise from lateral stems lie partly within the foliage . Unusually for Banksia species , the inflorescences are often violet in colour , ranging anywhere from a dark violet @-@ black through various combinations of violet and greenish @-@ yellow in less <unk> blooms . Each flower consists of a tubular perianth made up of four fused <unk> , and one long <unk> style . The styles are hooked rather than straight , and are initially trapped inside the upper perianth parts , but break free at <unk> . The old flowers gradually fade to brown . The fruiting structure or <unk> is a stout woody " <unk> " , with a hairy appearance caused by the persistence of old <unk> flower parts . These follicles are crowded around the globular spike ( called an <unk> at this point ) and are oval to <unk> , although the <unk> makes some irregularly shaped . They measure 1 – 2 @.@ 5 cm ( 0 @.@ 4 – 1 in ) long , 0 @.@ 6 cm ( 0 @.@ 2 in ) high and 0 @.@ 8 – 2 @.@ 2 cm ( 0 @.@ 3 – 0 @.@ 9 in ) wide . They are quite flattened and lack a ridge along the valve line . When young , the follicles are greenish in colour and slightly sticky , and covered in fine white hairs , fading to tan or grey with age . They open with fire , releasing a winged wedge @-@ shaped ( <unk> ) seed 2 – 2 @.@ 5 cm ( 0 @.@ 8 – 1 in ) long . The mottled dark grey seed body is <unk> ( crescent @-@ shaped ) and measures 1 @.@ 2 – 1 @.@ 8 cm ( 0 @.@ 5 – 0 @.@ 7 in ) long and 0 @.@ 2 – 0 @.@ 25 cm ( 0 @.@ 1 in ) wide , with a flattened dark brown wing 1 @.@ 1 – 1 @.@ 7 cm ( 0 @.@ 4 – 0 @.@ 5 in ) wide . The woody <unk> has the same dimensions as the seed . 
