Banksia polycephala, commonly known as many-headed dryandra, is a species of bushy shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has linear, pinnatisect leaves with up to twenty-five triangular lobes on each side, small, creamy yellow flowers in heads of up to seventy and egg-shaped follicles.

Description
Banksia polycephala is a bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of  but does not form a lignotuber. The leaves are pinnatisect,  long and  wide on a petiole  long. There are between ten and twenty-five sharply-pointed, triangular lobes on each side of the leaf lamina and one or two short teeth on the petiole. Between sixty and seventy cream-coloured flowers are borne in heads with lance-shaped involucral bracts up to  long at the base of each head. The perianth is  long and the pistil  long. Flowering occurs from August to October, and the follicles are egg-shaped and  long. Only up to three follicles form in each head.

Taxonomy and naming
This species was first formally described in 1870 by George Bentham who gave it the name Dryandra polycephala and published the description in Flora Australiensis from specimens collected by James Drummond. The specific epithet (polycephala) is derived from the ancient Greek words  (), meaning "many" and  (), meaning "head".

In 2007 Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all dryandras to the genus Banksia and renamed this species Banksia polycephala.

Distribution and habitat
The many-headed dryandra only occurs in an area between New Norcia and Bindoon where it grows in woodland with Eucalyptus wandoo.

Conservation status
This banksia is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

References

 

polycephala
Plants described in 1870
Taxa named by George Bentham