Under Brown's arrangement, Banksia was divided into two groups based on inflorescence shape.

The remaining species, B. ilicifolia (Holly-leaved Banksia), has a dome-shaped head and so was placed alone in Isostylis.

The 1830 circumscription of Banksia verae was as follows:[2] Banksia verae was renamed Eubanksia by Stephan Endlicher in his 1847 fourth supplement to Genera Plantarum Secundum Ordines Naturales Disposita,[3] and this name was retained in Carl Meissner's 1856 arrangement.

[4] These series were defined in terms of leaf shape alone, and were hence all highly heterogeneous, with the exception of B. ser.

By this time, however, the rules of botanical nomenclature had been formalised in such a way that Eubanksia was required to take the autonym B. subg.

It is circumscribed as follows:[7] In 1996, Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges published the results of a cladistic analysis of Banksia.

They ended up listing B. elegans and five other species as incertae sedis, but otherwise maintained George's circumscription of the subgenus.

Its placement and circumscription may be summarised as follows:[8] In 2005, Austin Mast, Eric Jones and Shawn Havery published the results of their cladistic analyses of DNA sequence data for Banksia.

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

Mast and Thiele have foreshadowed publishing a full arrangement once DNA sampling of Dryandra is complete.