Pimelea punicea
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Pimelea punicea.jpg
|image_caption = In Kakadu National Park
|genus = Pimelea
|species = punicea
|status_system =
|status =
|authority=R.Br.{{cite web |title=Pimelea punicea |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/70195 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=19 March 2023}}
|synonyms = {{collapsible list|
- Banksia punicea (R.Br.) Kuntze
- Calyptostregia punicea C.S.P.Foster & Henwood orth. var.
- Calyptrostegia punicea (R.Br.) Endl.
- Pimelea punicea var. breviloba Benth.
- Pimelea punicea R.Br. var. punicea
- Thecanthes punicea (R.Br.) Wikstr.
}}
}}
File:Pimelea punicea habit.jpg
Pimelea punicea is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is an annual herb with narrowly egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and clusters of red or orange-red flowers with 4 green, egg-shaped involucral bracts.
Description
Pimelea punicea is a glabrous, somewhat glaucous annual herb that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|20–60|cm}}. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, lance-shaped, narrowly elliptic or narrowly egg-shaped, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|7–52|mm}} long and {{cvt|2–11|mm}} wide on a short petiole. The flowers are red to orange-red and arranged in heads on the ends of branches on a peduncle expanded at its top into a funnel-shaped receptacle. Each flower is on a pedicel up to {{cvt|1.5|mm}} long and there are 4 green, egg-shaped involucral bracts {{cvt|2–10|mm}} long and {{cvt|3–12|mm}} wide surrounding the flowers. The flower tube is {{cvt|4–9|mm}} long and the sepals {{cvt|1.5–5|mm}} long. Flowering mainly occurs from February to July.{{cite web |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=Thecanthes punicea |url= https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Thecanthes%20punicea |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=19 March 2023}}{{cite web |title=Pimelea punicea |url=http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=5768 |publisher=Northern Territory Government |access-date=19 March 2023}}
Taxonomy
Pimelea punicea was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.{{cite web|title=Pimelea punicea|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/480608|publisher=APNI|access-date=19 March 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Robert |title=Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum quas annis 1802-1805 |date=1810 |location=London |page=359 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/21871#page/227/mode/1up |access-date=19 March 2023}} The specific epithet (punica) means "crimson".{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=287 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
This pimelea mainly grows in open forest, usually in sandy soil and often in rocky ground. It is found from near the Fitzroy River in Western Australia to the western edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north of the Northern Territory.{{FloraBase|name=Pimelea punicea|id=9111}}
Conservation status
Pimelea punicea is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and as of "least concern" under the Territory Parks and wildlife Conservation Act.