The type specimens were collected by William Baxter in the mountains near King George Sound in 1829.

[8] This application of the principle of priority was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries,[9] and Banksia L.f. was formally conserved and Sirmuellera rejected in 1940.

[10] Baxter's banksia grows with other shrubs such as Lambertia inermis, usually in deep sand and mostly occurs within 50 km (31 mi) of the coast between East Mount Barren and Israelite Bay.

[4] This banksia is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

[11] Banksia baxteri is serotinous, that is, it has an aerial seed bank in its canopy in the form of the follicles of the old flower spikes.