Pimelea micrantha
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Genus: Pimelea
Species:
P. micrantha
Binomial name
Pimelea micrantha
Synonyms[1]
  • Pimelea curviflora subsp. micrantha (Meisn.) Threlfall
  • Pimelea curviflora var. micrantha (F.Muell. ex Meisn.) Benth.

Pimelea micrantha, commonly known as silky rice-flower[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to southern Australia. It is a much-branched undershrub with narrowly elliptic to lance-shaped leaves and compact clusters or heads of densely hairy, creamy white flowers.

Description

Pimelea micrantha is a much-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of 10–40 cm (3.9–15.7 in) and has densely hairy stems. Its leaves are narrowly elliptic to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 1–11 mm (0.039–0.433 in) long and 0.8–4.5 mm (0.031–0.177 in) wide, on a short petiole. The flowers are borne in leaf axils or on the ends of branches in compact clusters or heads of 3 to 13 flowers on a peduncle about 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long with leaf-like involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are creamy-white and densely hairy on the outside, the floral tube 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.118 in) long. Flowering mainly occurs from August to December and the fruit contains a pear-shaped nut.[2][3][4][5]

Taxonomy

Pimelea micrantha was first formally described in 1854 by Carl Meissner in the journal Linnaea from an unpublished description by Ferdinand von Mueller, of specimens collected by Hans Hermann Behr.[6][7] The specific epithet (micrantha) means "small-flowered".[8]

Distribution and habitat

Silky rice-flower grows in sandy or clayey soil, often in rocky areas south from Manilla in inland New South Wales, in scattered populations in northern Victoria and southern Western Australia, and on Flinders Island and the Midlands of Tasmania.[2][3][4][5][9][10]

References

  1. 1 2 "Pimelea micrantha". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Harden, Gwen J. "Pimelea micrantha". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  3. 1 2 Rye, Barbara L. "Pimelea micrantha". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Pimelea curviflora var. micrantha". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  5. 1 2 Entwistle, Timothy J.; Walsh, Neville G. "Pimelea micrantha". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  6. ↑ "Pimelea micrantha". APNI. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  7. ↑ Meissner, Carl (1854). "Plantae Muellerianae: Thymeleae". Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde. 26: 351. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  8. ↑ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 251. ISBN 9780958034180.
  9. ↑ Jordan, Greg. "Pimelea micrantha". University of Tasmania. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  10. ↑ "Pimelea micrantha". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
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