Banksia littoralis R.Br.

A tree to 12 m tall, rarely a low shrub, fire-tolerant. Bark rough, friable. Stems tomentose. Leaves whorled or sometimes alternate; petiole 5-10 mm long; lamina linear, 10-23 cm long, to 10 mm wide, obtuse; margins recurved, serrate towards apices or almost entire; upper surface pubescent, glabrescent; lower surface closely tomentose. Inflorescence 7-20 cm long; involucral bracts tomentose, persistent until flowering. Flowers yellow, including styles. Perianth 25-27 mm long including limb of 2.5-3 mm, pubescent outside (including limb) and inside. Pistil hooked, 29-35 mm long, glabrous; pollen presenter narrowly ovoid, 0.5 mm long. Old flowers soon falling. Follicles up to 200, broadly linear to narrowly elliptic, 11-22 mm long, 2.5-8 mm high, 4-8 mm wide, smooth or sometimes with a ridge across valves, tomentose. Seed obovate, 15-18 mm long; seed body cuneate, 5-8 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, smooth to rugose.

In low-lying, winter-damp areas, in sand or peaty sand, usually in low woodland and often with Melaleuca preissiana (paperbark); also in Eucalyptus gomphocephala (Tuart) forest, rarely in low coastal kwongan.