Pimelea pygmaea
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Pimelea pygmaea.jpg
|image_caption = Near Little Pine Lagoon, Tasmania
|genus = Pimelea
|species = pygmaea
|status_system =
|status =
|authority=F.Muell. & C.Stuart ex Meisn.{{cite web |title=Pimelea pygmaea |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/70231 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=20 March 2023}}
|synonyms = Banksia pygmaea (F.Muell. & C.Stuart ex Meisn.) Kuntze
}}
File:Pimelea pygmaea habit.jpg
Pimelea pygmaea is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is prostrate, cushion-like undershrub with narrowly oblong to elliptic leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and white flowers arranged singly on the ends of the many branches.
Description
Pimelea pygmaea is a prostrate, cushion-like undershrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|2–10|cm}} and has many branches and hairy young stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, narrowly oblong to elliptic, {{cvt|1.5–4|mm}} long, {{cvt|1–2|mm}} wide and sessile. The flowers are white, female or bisexual and arranged singly on the ends of branches on a hairy pedicel. Bisexual flowers have a floral tube {{cvt|2.2–3.0|mm}} long and sepals up to {{cvt|2|mm}} long, and female flowers have a floral tube {{cvt|1.5–1.7|mm}} long and sepals {{cvt|1.2–1.4|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from September to December.{{cite web |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=Pimelea pygmaea |url= https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Pimelea%20pygmaea |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=20 March 2023}}{{cite book |last1=Rodway |first1=Leonard |title=The Tasmanian Flora |date=1903 |publisher=Tasmanian Government Printer |location=Hobart |page=174 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37374960#page/252/mode/1up |access-date=20 March 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Jordan |first1=Greg |title=Pimelea pygmaea |url=https://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/THYMEL/sPimelea_pygmaea.htm |publisher=University of Tasmania |access-date=20 March 2023}}
Taxonomy
Pimelea pygmaea was first formally described in 1854 by Carl Meissner in the journal Linnaea, from an unpublished description by Ferdinand von Mueller and Charles Stuart.{{cite web|title=Pimelea pygmaea|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/480667|publisher=APNI|access-date=20 March 2023}} The specific epithet (pygmaea) means "dwarf".{{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=288 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
This pimelea grows in alpine and subalpine moorland at altitudes above {{cvt|1000|m}} on the Central Plateau Conservation Area in Tasmania.
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:Malvales of Australia