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any Australian shrub or tree of the genus Banksia, having alternate leaves and dense, cylindrical flower heads.
Contemporary Examples

There are banksia bushes with their sawtooth-edge leaves and dried seed cones like multiple jabbering mouths.
Robert Hughes: A Fierce Critic and Powerful Voice Now Silenced Simon Schama August 9, 2012

Historical Examples

It was smothered in banksia roses, and it overlooked the sea.
Memoirs of Life and Literature W. H. Mallock

She cut great sprays from the banksia rose and brought them back with her.
A Girl in Ten Thousand L. T. Meade

Next, what are those bright little buds, like salmon-coloured banksia roses half expanded, sitting closely on the stone?
Glaucus Charles Kingsley

He sat down in the armchair just where he could smell the sweet-peas and the banksia roses.
A Girl in Ten Thousand L. T. Meade

As we passed through to supper, I plucked a spray of yellow banksia rose, and put it in my button-hole.
New Italian sketches John Addington Symonds

It was scarcely possible to see more than fifty yards ahead of you, so thickly grew the banksia trees.
The Bushman Edward Wilson Landor

One species was found growing on the stump of a banksia in Western Australia.
Fungi: Their Nature and Uses Mordecai Cubitt Cooke

Luckily he espied a banksia tree which seemed easy to ascend; but just as he reached it the bull was upon him.
The Bushman Edward Wilson Landor

In the valley I saw the banksia for the first time since we left the Lachlan.
Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Vol 2 (of 2) Thomas Mitchell

noun
any shrub or tree of the Australian genus Banksia, having long leathery evergreen leaves and dense cylindrical heads of flowers that are often red or yellowish: family Proteaceae See also honeysuckle (sense 3)