It is the lignotuberous form of the species, and occurs along the north-west coast of Western Australia, between Carnarvon and North West Cape.

[2][3] Banksia ashbyi was first formally described in 1934 by Edmund Gilbert Baker in the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign.

George noted that although it is not possible to distinguish between the subspecies from the flowers, fruit or foliage, the distinctive differences in habit are retained in cultivation.

boreoscaia, George chose a specimen collected from Quobba Point by Kevin Francis Kenneally on 15 October 1975.

The specific epithet boreoscaia is from the Greek borealis ("northern") and skaios ("west"), and refers to the fact that this is the only Banksia taxon to occur in the north-west of Western Australia.