Banksia strahanensis

Banksia strahanensis is an extinct species of tree or shrub in the plant genus Banksia. It is known only from a fossil leaf and several fossil leaf fragments found in Early to Middle Pleistocene sediment at Regatta Point in western Tasmania. These are long and very narrow, with entire margins, superficially resembling leaves of the extant B. spinulosa (Hairpin Banksia). The fossils clearly belong to genus Banksia, section Oncostylis, series Spicigerae, the only difficulty being that all Oncostylis taxa have a visible network of veins on the upper leaf surface, whereas the fossil leaves appear not to. They are most similar to the leaves of B. spinulosa, differing only in the absence of surface venation; a longer petiole; and the combination of narrow leaves with hairless undersides (all forms of B. spinulosa with leaves as narrow as those of B. strahanensis have hairy undersides). Because of these differences, the fossils are considered a separate species. The species is believed to rep......read more on Wikipedia.