A shrub or small tree up to 5 m (16 ft) high, it has prickly foliage and pink and cream flowers.

Banksia cuneata is rarely cultivated, and its prickly foliage limits its utility in the cut flower industry.

Prior to anthesis, the long thin perianth topped by a prominent limb resembles a matchstick, which explains one common name for this species.

[4] A 1996 cladistic analysis of the genus by botanists Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges yielded no information about the circumscription of B. subg.

The placement of B. cuneata there was unaffected, and can be summarised as follows:[3] Since 1998, American botanist Austin Mast and co-authors have been publishing results of ongoing cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for the subtribe Banksiinae, which then comprised genera Banksia and Dryandra.

Banksia cuneata resolves as the next closest relative, or "sister", to a clade containing B. ilicifolia and B. oligantha, suggesting a monophyletic B. subg.

Isostylis; but the clade appears fairly derived (that it, it evolved relatively recently), suggesting that B. subg.

[10][11][12] Early in 2007, Mast and Thiele rearranged the genus Banksia by merging Dryandra into it, and published B. subg.

Further complicating the situation is the southernmost population of B. cuneata, which has both genetic and phenetic affinities with B. oligantha located to the southeast.

[14] An endangered species, B. cuneata occurs only over a 90 km (56 mi) range around Pingelly and Quairading, in Western Australia.

[23] Prominent flowers, a red or pink colour, a straight style and a tubular perianth are features thought to promote pollination by birds.

[21] The structure of B. cuneata's flower, with the style end functioning as a pollen presenter, suggests that autogamous self-fertilisation must be common.

Populations in relatively intact bushland have high outcrossing rates, but those in more disturbed environments are both more inbred on average, and more variable.

Firstly, the higher density of disturbed populations leads to greater rates of mating between neighbouring plants, resulting in more genetic structure and thus more effective selfing.

[19] A model-based investigation found that the optimal fire interval for maximising population size over the medium term is around 15 years.

More frequent fires reduce population size by killing adults before they have reached their full fecundity.

Less frequent fires reduce population size because there are fewer opportunities for seed dispersal and germination.

[19] Banksia cuneata was declared critically endangered after a 1982 survey found only five populations comprising about 450 plants.

[1] However, since then more plants have been located, and populations have been found to be gradually increasing in response to a number of conservation measures including fencing and baiting of rabbits.

[1] In April 1987, Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation burnt part of one population in an experimental regeneration fire.

[27] Threats to B. cuneata include land clearing, which leads to direct plant loss and population fragmentation, grazing pressure, competition from exotic weeds, changes to the fire regime, and encroaching salinity.

[28][29] The Banksia Atlas survey found one population to be on the side of a road; the plants were aging with no new seedlings noted, and the site was weed-infested.

[15] A large part of the surviving populations are on private land, and depend on good relationships with local landowners.

There has been some attempt by CALM to translocate populations away from hazardous areas; these have met with some success, helped with watering in the first year.

[5] Even before the extensive clearing of the Wheatbelt in the 1930s, B. cuneata must have had a highly fragmented distribution, since the deep yellow sand favoured by the species occurs only in patches, and makes up only 10 to 15% of the area.

[18] Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback has not been identified as a threat to this species, but testing has found it to be highly susceptible;[33] in one study it exhibited the highest susceptibility of 49 Banksia species studied, with 80% of plants dead within 96 days of inoculation with the disease, and 100% dead within a year.

This was recognised as early as 1992, when it was noted that winter rainfall in the Quairading region had been falling by about 4% per decade, and that a continuation of this trend may reduce the species' distribution.

However, there may not be any range reduction at all under mid-severity climate change, depending on how effectively this species can migrate into newly habitable areas.

[23][37] This species has little appeal to the cut flower industry because of its prickly foliage,[23] and its tendency to drip nectar.

Ironically, given its conservation status, Kingsley Dixon of Kings Park and Botanic Garden suggested that it may have weed potential: the species was trialled as a cut flower crop on land north of Moore River, and seedlings were noted afterwards.