Banksia serrata: the plate behind Birch & Banksia
Connor MatakThe Archive · 6 min read
Banksia serrata: the plate behind Birch & Banksia
In April 1770, a 25-year-old artist sketched this plant at Botany Bay. He died on the way home. It took 212 years for his drawing to be published.
The plant is Banksia serrata. The saw banksia. It is the type species of an entire Australian genus, and the species this studio is named for.
This is its history. And how the plate came to be restored, printed on 250gsm FSC-certified archival paper, and shipped from a studio on the Central Coast of NSW more than two and a half centuries after that sketch.
The species
Banksia serrata, the saw banksia, is a tree of the Proteaceae family native to eastern Australia. It is the type species of the genus Banksia, named for the botanist Sir Joseph Banks.
Where it grows
The species is found in a narrow band along the eastern seaboard, from around Bundaberg in the north to the Grampians in Victoria.
Why it is called the saw banksia
The leaves have sharp, serrated edges, deep enough to catch on a sleeve when you brush past. Serrata, from the Latin for "saw".
The voyage that found it
Botany Bay, April 1770
HMS Endeavour anchored at the place Cook would name Botany Bay between 28 April and 5 May 1770. The shore party included Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. Over those seven days, they collected so many previously unrecorded plants that Cook named the place for them.
Sydney Parkinson, age 25
Every plant collected on the voyage was sketched by Sydney Parkinson, the ship's botanical illustrator. He was a Quaker from Edinburgh, hired by Banks specifically for the journey.
Sydney Parkinson, 1745–1771
Parkinson did not survive the voyage home. He died of dysentery off Java in January 1771. By then he had completed 269 finished watercolours and 673 unfinished sketches. The Banksia serrata field sketch was one of the unfinished ones.
The 212-year wait
A genus described in 1782
The genus was named in April 1782 by Carolus Linnaeus the Younger, who published Supplementum Plantarum and described the first four Banksia species. He marked B. serrata as the type species, the reference specimen against which the rest of the genus would be defined.
A florilegium published in the 1980s
Banks intended to publish all 753 engraved plates as a single work. He died in 1820 with the plates still unpublished. They passed to the British Museum, where they sat for more than 150 years. The complete Banks' Florilegium was finally produced between 1981 and 1988.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| May 1770 | Banks and Solander collect the first specimen at Botany Bay. Parkinson makes field sketches aboard HMS Endeavour. |
| 1771 | Parkinson dies on the voyage home, aged 25. |
| April 1782 | Carolus Linnaeus the Younger formally describes the genus Banksia in Supplementum Plantarum. |
| 1981–1988 | Banks' Florilegium is published in 34 parts by Alecto Historical Editions with the British Museum. |
The plate, restored
What we work from
The restored print is built from public-domain scans of the historical plate. The base scan carries fox marks, ink bleed, plate wear, and uneven yellowing. A direct print of the raw scan would look like a poor photocopy of an old book.
What "restored" actually means
Restoration here is a slow process, not a filter. The scan is upscaled to print resolution using a model built for engraved line work. Fox marks (small rust-coloured spots that form on old paper) and dust are cleaned manually. Nothing is added that wasn't in the original plate.
The paper we print it on
The print is produced on 250gsm FSC-certified matte uncoated natural white archival paper, 0.29mm thick. One percent of every sale funds native reforestation in Australia.
Why this plate is the brand's anchor
I named the studio Birch & Banksia because the brand sits in two botanical hemispheres at once. The birch is the North American paper birch, Betula papyrifera. The banksia is the Australian genus. Banksia serrata is the type species of that genus, the reference specimen the rest of the genus is measured against. If the studio has one anchor plate, it is this one.
The Banksia serrata print
The restored Banksia serrata plate is available in three sizes (30×40, 50×70, and 70×100 cm), framed or unframed, on 250gsm FSC-certified matte paper.
