Banksia plants belong to a genus of around 170 species native to Australia. They also belong to the Proteaceae plant family, which is an ancient family of flowering plants that dispersed and diversified throughout Gondwana before the supercontinent disintegrated.
With about 1600 species, Proteaceae is one of the plant groups that dominate the southern hemisphere flora.
Banksia plants take many forms, from trees up to 30 metres tall, to woody shrubs, to a few prostrate species. The leaves vary greatly between species, with sizes varying from 1.0–1.5 centimetres long up to 45cm long.
The young leaves are velvety and often brownish or yellow in colour, while the mature leaves are green or dark green, hard to touch and most species have serrated edges.
Leaves are usually arranged along the branches in irregular spirals, but in some species, they are crowded together in whorls.
Second photo is a Callistemon, otherwise, all Banksias.