Pimelea hewardiana

Pimelea hewardiana, commonly known as forked rice-flower,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a shrub with narrowly elliptic leaves and head-like clusters of 7 to 34 unisexual yellow flowers.

Pimelea hewardiana
In the Long Forest Nature Conservation Reserve
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Genus: Pimelea
Species:
P. hewardiana
Binomial name
Pimelea hewardiana
Synonyms[1]
  • Banksia elachantha Kuntze
  • Pimelea elachantha F.Muell. nom. illeg. p.p.
  • Pimelea hewardiana var. elachantha F.Muell. ex Meisn.
  • Pimelea hewardiana Meisn. var. hewardiana

Description

Pimelea hewardiana is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 40–70 cm (16–28 in), it young stems covered with short hairs. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 3–11.5 mm (0.12–0.45 in) long, 1.0–3.5 mm (0.039–0.138 in) wide on a short petiole. The lower surface of the leaves is paler than the upper surface. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branches or in leaf axils in head-like, compact clusters of 7 to 34, surrounded by 4 glabrous, leaf-like involucral bracts 5–11 mm (0.20–0.43 in) long and 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) wide. The flowers are unisexual and yellow, the flower tube 1.0–2.5 mm (0.039–0.098 in) long, the sepals 0.5–1.5 mm (0.020–0.059 in) long, and the stamens in male flowers shorter than the sepals. Flowering mainly occurs from April to October.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

Pimelea hewardiana was first formally described in 1854 by Carl Meissner in the journal Linnaea.[5][6] The specific epithet (hewardiana) honours the botanist, Robert Heward (1791–1877).[7]

Distribution and habitat

Forked rice-flower grows in mallee shrubland, usually in rocky ground, from the Glenelg River to the Bacchus Marsh area, west of Melbourne.[2][3] It was formerly found in south-eastern South Australia, but is now considered to be extinct in that state.[8]

Conservation status

This species is listed as "rare" on the Department of Sustainability and Environment's Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants In Victoria.[9]

References
  1. "Pimelea hewardiana". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  2. Entwistle, Timothy J.; Stajsic, Val. "Pimelea hewardiana". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  3. Rye, Barbara L. Busby, John R. (ed.). "Pimelea hewardiana". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  4. Wild Plants of Victoria (database). Viridans Biological Databases & Department of Sustainability and Environment. 2009.
  5. "Pimelea hewardiana". APNI. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  6. Meissner, Carl (1854). "Plantae Muellerianae: Thymeleae". Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde. 26: 346. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  7. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 217. ISBN 9780958034180.
  8. "Pimelea hewardiana". Seed Conservation Service of South Australia. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  9. "Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants In Victoria - 2014" (PDF). Department of Sustainability and Environment (Victoria). Retrieved 29 June 2017.
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