Banksia brunnea is a species of low, bushy shrub that is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.

Banksia brunnea is a bushy, much-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.7 m (2 ft 4 in) but does not form a lignotuber.

[2][3] This banksia was first formally described in 1845 by Carl Meissner who gave it the name Dryandra brownii and published the description in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae.

[7][8] Banksia brunnea grows in kwongan between Albany, the Stirling Range and the Fitzgerald River National Park.

[2][3] This species is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.