sentences:  This banksia was first formally described in 1996 by Alex George in the journal "Nuytsia" and given the name "Dryandra borealis" from specimens he collected in 1966, near the road between Kalbarri and Ajana.In 2007, Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele transferred all the dryandras to the genus "Banksia" and this species became "Banksia borealis".The specific epithet ("borealis") is a Latin word meaning "northern" referring to the distribution of this species, the most northerly of all the dryandras.