Talk:Banksia marginata/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: J Milburn (talk) 23:05, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

At first glance, it's an impressive article. Another you hope to send to FAC? I'll just take a read through, and add comments as they come to me. J Milburn (talk) 23:32, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

• "as Silver Banksia" Not essential, but perhaps the Silver Banksia?

yeah, how'd I miss that..? definite article added Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• The opening sentence is very long.

yeah, split Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "as a small shrub to 20 cm (8 in) high" Up to? It seems strange to give an upper limit when you are about to say that it grows so much bigger.

yeah, good point "to" removed Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "The flower spikes are to grey" Rephrase?

gah! muffed cut/paste/copyedit or something. now fixed. Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "further collections the species were described as several separate species" Rephrase?

gah! muffed cut/paste/copyedit or something. now fixed. Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "dwarf forms" Link?

to Dwarfing is best maybe..? Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "compact shrub to 20 cm (8 in) high" As above; I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this.

fixed Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "Gibraltar Range" Link?

tweaked link to first instance Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "lignification" Link?

wiki link would be to lignin which is a bit wordy, I think the wikt link to wikt:lignification is a little more precise..? Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "though recorded as late" though they are?

tricky - tried "although flowering occurs in late autumn.." Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "measure 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) tall and 4–6 cm (1.6–2.4 in),[5]" Specify what the second measurement is?

+ wide (oops) Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "As with most banksias, anthesis is acropetal; it proceeds up the flower spike from the base to the tip" I'm sorry, I don't follow this.

I figured this might be tricky. It is the direction the flowers open in up the spike. See the image where you can see that the opening of the tiny buds to flowers proceeds from the base to the top of the spike. I'll think on rewording. Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "separated by a woody dark brown separator" Redundancy

-- > "between which lies a woody dark brown separator" (separator is official name)

• "having crossed out Van Diemen's Land 1804" What does this mean?

I am reflecting the source. My interpretation is that Brown thought it was from Van Diemen's Land (i.e. Tassie) and then realised that collection came from Victoria instead. I am pondering whether I can put that in but I have not seen that interpretation in George's writing (I might ring him up and ask him actually :))

• Why don't you mention the common name Silver Banksia in the taxonomy section? The current common names paragraph looks a little out of place. Also, there is inconsistency with capitalisation of common names.
• Inconsistency with the italicisation of "subsp."

done Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:05, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "the Banksia Atlas project" Book name- italics?

done Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:05, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "still cohering" What does that mean? (image caption)

Tricky - I changed it to "with winged seeds still nestled against it" - they aren't attached as such. If you pull them out of the cone they sort of stick as the surface is finely ridged, but fall away if you shake them a bit. I have burnt many a spike over a gas stove and grown seedlings - in fact one is in bud in my autumn garden at present. :) Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:10, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "It is widespread in medium rainfall eucalypt forests across Victoria. It is a common understory shrub, sometimes small tree, in heathy and shrubby forests in part of its range." Unreferenced one line paragraph.

done --Melburnian (talk) 09:49, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

• "of habitat" s?

done Casliber (talk · contribs) 05:41, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• You give common names of the pollinators, but not other plants with which it grows?

got 'em Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:23, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• "it grows as a low shrub which suckers (shoots growing from lateral roots) after fire" You seem to use "suckers" as a verb but define it as a noun?

it is used a verb or noun. A plant which suckers is one which can send up shoots from roots. These shoots are also called suckers. Hence the link to "basal shoot". Best thing to do is to buff the target article methinks... Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:23, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• So, is it in use as timber today? Was it put to use after the exhibition?

not really. It is too small generally. I will see what I can find. Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:23, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Now addressed.Melburnian (talk) 01:27, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• Inconsistency with quote marks used to refer to cultivars.

all double quoted now Casliber (talk · contribs) 01:23, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

These need to be in single quotes per Cultivar#Cultivar names. Melburnian (talk) 02:12, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

fine by me Casliber (talk · contribs) 05:41, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

• Perhaps two columns for the refs? (I'm yet to look through them).

refs in two columns now. Bring on more queries :) Casliber (talk · contribs) 22:08, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Hope this helps. There's more I need to look through yet, but, so far, this is looking great. J Milburn (talk) 00:36, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Ok, looking through again; the sourcing and illustrations are both top-notch, so no concerns there. This article is of a higher quality than many GAs, but as this is approaching FA level, I thought you may appreciate a few further thoughts.

• There is an inconsistency between the capitalisation of common names- capitalised (lead, para1 of "Ecology", etc) or not capitalised (para2 of "Ecology", "Distribution and habitat", etc)

The general plan is uppercase for birds and lowercase for everything else. We've sometimes overridden that for consistency at FAC, and I am in three minds at present (leave as is, all uppercase, all lowercase...) Casliber (talk · contribs) 03:10, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

• There's also an inconsistency (check captions, for instance) as to whether the species is referred to by its common name or its specific name.

good catch - made specific name Casliber (talk · contribs) 03:08, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

• The ecology section still comes across as a little choppy- short paras and such
• I wonder whether the tree/shrub images should be moved up- I appreciate that you guys are really into banksias, but it's not something I'd ever come across before reading articles by your projects, so precisely what you're talking about is not clear at a glance. (Also, there are some nice templates/tricks to combine two images- may be worth considering)

not a bad idea. I have lots of photos of this species from NSW and Victoria (as does Melburnian), and I am sure JJ Harrison has more photos of it up his sleeve in Tasmania. I might browse my collection offline. Might take a bit of time and thought...agree about a habit shot up the article a bit. Casliber (talk · contribs) 03:03, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Any particular types of photos that you are after Cas? A shot with a bird with this species would be good for ecology (that's one I don't have myself). I'll upload some more to add to the pool at commons:category:Banksia marginata.Melburnian (talk) 03:53, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

I am still keen t see what range of habit shots we can get. I have just uploaded 3 pics of a monster remnant tree that was shown to Kevin Collins and me near Beeac in September 2004 (I only had a lousy point-and-shoot camera at the time and it was dusk. A shame as the tree has since died. It is the biggest marginata I have seen, at ~ 15m and 90 cm trunk. I am digging round for some others on my old hard drive but seem to be loads of the damn flowers only. Yes wildlife shots would be cool! 12:31, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

That's a beauty (I saw it on the newsletter) - thanks for the upload, and sad to hear about its demise. Yes, I have loads of flower photos too, but I'll see what other habit photos I can find.Melburnian (talk) 13:06, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Twas a nice autumn day in Sydney and I drove to the piece of bushland with the closest examples of B. marginata to my house. Got an okay habit shot and two shots with some pollinators...but they were only ants and a European honeybee...and I forgot to move a bit of leaf out of the way of one nice shot of a flower spike - see File:Banksia marginata antsandbee.JPG and File:Banksia marginata antsandbee2.JPG.... :( Casliber (talk · contribs) 13:07, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Gee, that makes the ones in this part of the world look pretty scruffy in comparison. Good job with the bee and ants too. Melburnian (talk) 14:10, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

• "Immature (left), Mature (right)" capitalisation? (lead caption)

overhauled it and made lower case (not a sentence) Casliber (talk · contribs) 02:57, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

It's generally great. J Milburn (talk) 20:46, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Ok, I'm confident the remaining issues are being worked on, but that the article as stands is worthy of GA status. Hope to see this at FAC at some point in the future! I'm promoting now. J Milburn (talk) 11:52, 21 April 2011 (UTC)