Banksieaephyllum

Banksieaephyllum is a plant genus that encompasses organically preserved fossil leaves that can be attributed to the Proteaceae tribe Banksieae, but cannot be attributed to a genus.
Before 1950, many fossil leaves were attributed to the genera "Banksia" and "Dryandra". In most cases, leaves with triangular lobes were associated with "Dryandra", and leaves with serration were associated with "Banksia". In 1950, Isabel Cookson and Suzanne Duigan showed this policy to be flawed, by demonstrating that the leaves of the two genera cannot be reliably distinguished. Since these two genera then comprised tribe Banksieae, Cookson and Duigan erected "Banksieaephyllum" to contain such leaves.
Since then, "Banksia" and "Dryandra" have been further grouped into subtribe Banksiinae, and another subtribe, Musgraveinae, erected to contain two new genera. Interpretations of "Banksieaephyllum" are now no longer consistent. Some botanists continue to hold that "Banksieaephyllum" is for fossil leaves that can be attributed to Banksieae but not to a genus; that is, they include fossils that cannot be excluded from the Musgravinae. Others hold that Cookson and Duigan's intentions were for the genus to hold fossil leaves that are known to be "Dryandra" or "Banksia", but cannot be attributed to either with certainty; thus they now define the genus in terms of Banksiinae rather than Banksieae.
"Dryandra" has now been transferred into "Banksia". Although as yet undetermined, the latter interpretation would result in "Banksieaephyllum" becoming a nomenclatural synonym of "Banksia".
Fossils ascribed to "Banksieaephyllum" have been found in sediments dating from the Paleocene to early Miocene (). In 1998, the most recent synopsis, there were 16 species, including:
However, Carpenter, Jordan & Hill (2016) transferred the species "B. incisum" and "B. cuneatum" to the separate genus "Banksieaefolia", while also transferring the species "B. acuminatum" to the genus "Banksia" and renaming it "Banksia cooksoniae". In addition, the authors excluded the species "B. attenuatum", "B. longifolium", "B. pinnatum", "B. praefastigatum", "B. regularis" and "B. westdaliense" from Banksieae and transferred those species to the separate genus "Pseudobanksia".