It was published in 2007 by Austin Mast and Kevin Thiele, and defined as containing all those Banksia species having spathulate (spoon-shaped) cotyledons.

[1] The name was published to accommodate forthcoming changes to the taxonomic arrangement of Banksia, based on the DNA sequence analyses of Austin Mast and others, which suggested a phylogeny for Banksia very greatly different from the accepted taxonomic arrangement.

Initially this clade was informally named "/Cryptostomata", in reference to the stomates, which are sunken with constricted entrances.

[2][3][4] Accordingly, in 2007 Mast and Thiele initiated a rearrangement by transferring Dryandra to Banksia, and publishing B. subg.

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