Hairpin Banksia: an iconic local plant that needs our help

Annette Muir
10 January 2025

Why is Hairpin Banksia special?

Hairpin Banksia is the emblem for MEG! It grows around Montrose eastwards to Bunyip State Park, at Wilsons Promontory National Park and in East Gippsland. The plants are an important nectar source for honeyeater birds and small animals like sugar gliders, as they flower prolifically in autumn when not many other plants are flowering.

Hairpin Banksia in Victoria differs from Hairpin Banksia in NSW, and from plants generally available in nurseries. Our Victorian species has no lignotuber which means it can’t resprout after fire unlike its counterpart in NSW. It is now known in Victoria as Banksia cunninghamii (not spinulosa).

Threats

Unfortunately, Hairpin Banksia in the Dandenongs and around Montrose has been gradually disappearing over the last few decades from areas where it was once common. In the Dandenong Ranges NP there are now only three small patches of Hairpin Banksia (Sheffield Rd Nth Montrose, near Pipeline Tk Silvan, Chamberlain Tk Olinda), and a few isolated individuals at Leversha Reserve and Mt Evelyn Aqueduct.

There are several likely reasons for this decline. The millennium drought between 1997 and 2009 would have had an impact. The species is especially vulnerable to unsuitable fire intervals, because it is completely reliant on growing from seed contained in the woody cones. If fire intervals are below about ten years, there will not be enough seed. If there is no fire for many decades, plants may start to die without reproducing from seed. Small isolated populations may be lacking in pollinating animals which cross-pollinate flowers to create seed.

Restoration in the Dandenongs

The good news is that we can help stop local extinctions of Hairpin Banksia in Montrose and surrounding areas. In 2020, Parks Victoria and MEG re-established some new patches of Hairpin Banksia, grown by Candlebark Nursery from locally collected seed. They were planted in early winter and guarded to protect against deer and wallaby grazing.

As a result of discussions at our 2024 AGM we are now expanding this project. MEG is providing funds for Candlebark Nursery to grow more plants from locally collected seed. Yarra Ranges Council is very supportive of planting these new banksias in several bushland reserves, and will provide guards to protect the plants from grazing animals.

How can you help?

We will be planting the banksias in the middle of 2025 – and we welcome members to join us in this important conservation activity.

Further information

For further information, get in contact with Annette Muir via banksiaspinulosa@gmail.com, or check out Annette's powerpoint from the MEG AGM.