Banksia integrifolia is a native plant to coastal regions of Australia but is such a hardy plant, it is now found widely growing outside its native region, earning it the reputation of being a weed. Commonly known as Coast Banksia, the many different Indigenous groups have many different names for it. It was on the first trip of James Cook, then still just a Lieutenant, in the 1770's, to the Pacific Ocean, with Naturalists Daniel Solander and Joseph Banks, who brought some back to England with them that it was first seen in Europe. Not a very good food plant, the Indigenous people have long used the flower as a hair brush, while the European settlers learned how to turn the nectar into a cough and cold syrup. As enjoyed seeing in the San Francisco Botanical Garden of Golden Gate Park 17 January 2025.
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