[1] George described its nearest probable relative as Banksia audax and placed it in the series Cyrtostylis, which he concedes is rather heterogeneous.

[2] This was reinforced in American botanist Austin Mast's 2002 analysis, as B. laevigata came out as sister to three groups; the first the pair comprising B. audax and B. benthamiana.

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

[4] The tennis ball banksia is a shrub to 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) high with grey, flaky bark.

New growth occurs in summer,[5] and the young stems and leaves are covered in fine hairs, which fall away with age.

laevigata grows in shrubland on stony soils of spongolite or laterite, along the lower Fitzgerald River and in the Ravensthorpe Ranges in inland southern Western Australia.

[5] Although like many western banksias it is sensitive to Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback, it has been successfully grown on Australia's east coast.