It is found in Western Australia, from the Perth (32° S) region north to the Murchison River (27° S), and generally grows on sandy soils, in scrubland or low woodland.

Banksia menziesii provides food for a wide array of invertebrate and vertebrate animals; birds and in particular honeyeaters are prominent visitors.

A relatively hardy plant, Banksia menziesii is commonly seen in gardens, nature strips and parks in Australian urban areas with Mediterranean climates, but its sensitivity to dieback from the soil-borne water mould Phytophthora cinnamomi makes it short-lived in places with humid summers, such as Sydney.

They are most attractive in late bud, the styles contrasting well to the body of the inflorescence, the whole looking like a red- or pink-and white vertical candy striped bloom.

[10] The plant is dependent on fire to reproduce as the follicles only open after being burnt, each one producing one or two viable wedge-shaped (cuneate) seeds, on either side of a woody separator.

[3] Evidence of thickening to form a future lignotuber, as well as minute buds, has been detected from the bases of seedlings at five months of age.

[16] Despite its variation across its range, George noted that B. menziesii was a clearly defined species, and no formal division into subspecies was warranted.

[17] Specimens of B. menziesii were first collected by the botanist Charles Fraser during Captain (later Admiral Sir) James Stirling's March 1827 exploration of the Swan River.

Banksia verae was renamed Eubanksia by Stephan Endlicher in 1847,[18] and demoted to sectional rank by Carl Meissner in his 1856 classification.

[21] When George Bentham published his 1870 arrangement in Flora Australiensis, he discarded Meissner's series, replacing them with four sections.

[23] This application of the principle of priority was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries,[24] and Banksia L.f. was formally conserved and Sirmuellera rejected in 1940.

[28] In 2005, Mast, Eric Jones and Shawn Havery published the results of their cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for Banksia.

They inferred a phylogeny greatly different from the accepted taxonomic arrangement, including finding Banksia to be paraphyletic with respect to Dryandra.

[32] Banksia menziesii grows primarily in deep sandy soils of the Swan Coastal Plain and Geraldton Sandplains, extending from Waroona in the south to Kalbarri in the north.

[33] It is generally limited to the east by the heavy soils of the Darling Scarp, but does grow on isolated patches of sand in the Jarrah Forest and Avon Wheatbelt regions, such as occur near Beverley, Toodyay and Wongan Hills.

[31] Much of its range on the Swan Coastal Plain coincides with Perth's expanding metropolitan area, and much habitat has been lost to clearing.

[32] On the Geraldton Sandplains to the north, B. menziesii usually occurs as a shrub or small tree emergent above low heath.

[31] Like many members of the family Proteaceae, Banksia menziesii is largely self-incompatible; that is, inflorescences require pollinators to be fertilised and produce seed.

[7] Published in 1988, a field study conducted in banksia woodland near Perth noted that anthesis occurred on an inflorescence at an average rate of 40 to 60 florets opening per day, although this varied widely between different flowerheads.

[37] Banksia menziesii provides an important food source, as flowers and seeds, for the threatened short-billed black cockatoo (Zanda latirostris).

Lower canopies and drier climates predispose to hotter fires that are more likely to kill plants and effect seed release, and thus facilitate seedling recruitment.

[2] All banksias have developed proteoid or cluster roots in response to the nutrient poor conditions of Australian soils (particularly lacking in phosphorus).

[47] A 1994 study by Byron Lamont and colleagues from Curtin University found that Banksia menziesii plants within 50 metres (160 feet) of road verges had crowns two and a half times bigger, and set three times as many seeds as plants further away from the road, and that this was likely due to increased availability of nutrients and water from runoff.

[48] Banksia menziesii has several horticultural features including patterned buds and follicles, attractive pinkish new growth, and showy flowerheads.

However, with medium to high susceptibility to Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback,[50] it is unreliable in conditions that favour the growth of the soil-borne water mould, such as summer humidity or poor drainage.

The plant favours sandy well-drained soils and a sunny position and can be heavily pruned if necessary, as new growth can arise from the lignotuber.

[16] Banksia menziesii was the subject of a book by botanical artist Philippa Nikulinsky, which showed the progress of an inflorescence from bud through flowering to fruiting and seed release over 22 watercolour plates.