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Banksia caleyi (Red Lantern Banksia) - A bushy low branching shrub to 6 feet all gray bark and wedge shaped 4 to 5 inch long leaves with irregularly prickly toothed margins that are dark green on the upper surface and gray below and with new growth slightly hairy. The flowers appear from late spring to early summer and deep maroon red in bud light to pink-red as they open. The flowers are unusual in that they are pendant on older wood inside the shrub or near the base of the plant, which is thought to be a pollination strategy for attracting small ground dwelling marsupials.
Plant in full to part sun to a well-drained soil. Is tolerant of sandy soil, clay soils, salt and alkaline conditions, so long as the soil drains well, and it is noted as growing well under Eucalyptus and near the beach. It is hardy to frost and has withstood temperatures at Australian Native Plant Nursery down to 25° F and to around 19°F at the Australian National Botanic Garden in Canberra. It has proven to be a tough low maintenance shrub in California gardens and is useful as a specimen shrub or as a screen or small windbreak, with flowers that attract bees, nectar feeding birds and butterflies, and are useful as cut flowers.
Banksia caleyi comes from south and east of the Stirling Ranges through to the vicinity of Jerramungup in Western Australia, where it grows in areas that are subject to periodic fires. Though it is non-lignotuberous and does not resprout after a fire, it regenerates from seed afterwards. It was first described by Scottish naturalist Robert Brown in 1830 and named to honor the English explorer and plant collector George Caley (1775-1825), who sent many plant specimens to Joseph Banks at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The name for the genus is one given by Carolus Linnaeus to honor the English botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who was on Captain James Cook's first expedition to Australia and collected the first Banksia specimens in 1770.
This plant was being grown in England as early as 1830 and made its way into cultivation in California by the 1940s. We thank Jo O'Connell at Jo O'Connell at Australian Native Plants for turning us onto this species and for use of the picture that accompanies this information. We grew for a few years before closing our nursery in 2025.
The information displayed on this page about Banksia caleyi is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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