Pimelea pauciflora, commonly known as poison rice-flower,[2] is a species of shrub in the family Thymelaeaceae. It has small yellow-lime flowers and green, smooth fleshy leaves, and is endemic to Eastern Australia.
| Poison rice-flower | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Thymelaeaceae |
| Genus: | Pimelea |
| Species: | P. pauciflora
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pimelea pauciflora | |
Description
editPimelea pauciflora is a small dioecious shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in) and has smooth, long, reddish stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs along the branches, and are glossy green, smooth, and narrowly linear or linear to lance shaped, 4–25 mm (0.16–0.98 in) long, 1–4 mm (0.039–0.157 in) wide on a short petiole. The flowers are yellowish-green and arranged in clusters of 3 to 9, mostly at the end of branches usually surrounded by 2 green, narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped involucral bracts. The flowers are smooth and unisexual, the male flowers 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) long, and the female flowers about 3 mm (0.12 in) long. The leaf-like overlapping flower bracts, usually 2, egg-shaped to narrow elliptic, 3–11 mm (0.12–0.43 in) long, 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) wide, smooth and green. The fruit is a succulent red berry, about 4 mm (0.16 in) wide and as the fruit develop the sepals and petals fall off. Flowering occurs from September to November.[2][3][4][5][6]
Taxonomy and naming
editPimelea pauciflora was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[7][8] The specific epithet (pauciflora) is from the Latin pauci- meaning "few" and -florus meaning "flowered".[9]
Distribution and habitat
editPoison rice-flower is found growing in open scrubland, forests, sometimes in dense thickets at higher altitudes south from Queanbeyan in New South Wales. In Victoria it grows near mountain streams in a few scattered locations.[2][4] It also occurs in a few places in north-eastern Tasmania.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Pimelea pauciflora". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
- ^ a b c "Pimelea pauciflora". VICFLORA-Online. Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ "Pimelea pauciflora". Plants For a Future. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- ^ a b "Pimelea pauciflora". PlantNET-NSW Flora Online. Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ Sharp, Sarah; Rehwinkel, Rainer; Mallinson, Dave; Eddy, David (2015). Woodland Flora-a field guide for the Southern Tableland (NSW & ACT). Canberra: Horizon Print Management. ISBN 978-0-9944958-0-8.
- ^ Rye, Barbara L. (1990). George, Alex (ed.). Flora of Australia Volume 18 Podostemaceae to Combretaceae. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-10472-4.
- ^ "Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum quas annis 1802-1805". Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ "Pimelea pauciflora". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ Francis Aubie Sharr (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and their meanings. Sardinia Western Australia: Four Gables Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-0-9580341-8-0.
- ^ Jordan, Greg. "Pimelea pauciflora". University of Tasmania. Retrieved 5 March 2023.