Pimelea spiculigera
{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Pimelea spiculigera var. spiculigera (7596780260).jpg
|genus = Pimelea
|species = spiculigera
|authority = F.Muell.{{cite web |title=Pimelea spiculigera |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/70623 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=7 April 2023}}
|synonyms = Banksia spiculigera (F.Muell.) Kuntze
}}
File:Pimelea spiculigera.jpg]]
Pimelea spiculigera is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with linear to narrowly egg-shaped leaves and heads of yellow or greenish-yellow flowers surrounded by 2 or 4 egg-shaped involucral bracts.
Description
Pimelea spiculigera is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|0.2–2|m}} and has glabrous stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, linear to narrowly egg-shaped, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|4–26|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.7–3.5|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|0.3–1.3|mm}} long. Both surfaces of the leaves are glabrous, and the same shade of medium green. The flowers are glabrous, yellow or greenish-yellow and arranged in one or two heads, surrounded by 2 or 4 egg-shaped, medium green involucral bracts {{cvt|2–10|mm}} long and {{cvt|1.5–3.0|mm}} wide. Each flower is on a densely hairy pedicel {{cvt|0.3–0.7|mm}} long. The flower tube of male flowers is {{cvt|3.0–5.5|mm}} long, the sepals {{cvt|1.3–1.7|mm}} long, the stamens shorter than the sepals. The flower tube of female flowers is {{cvt|2–3|mm}} long, the sepals {{cvt|0.8–1|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from July to October.{{FloraBase|name=Pimelea spiculigera |id=5265 }}{{cite web |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=Pimelea spiculigera |url= https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Pimelea%20spiculigera |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=7 April 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=A revision of Western Australian Thymelaeaceae. |journal=Nuytsia |date=1988 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=160–165|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/232337#page/36/mode/1up |access-date=7 April 2023}}
Taxonomy
Pimelea spiculigera was first formally described in 1878 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.{{cite web |title=Pimelea spiculigera |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/name/apni/481300/api/apni-format |website=APNI |accessdate=7 April 2023}}{{cite book |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae |date=1878 |publisher=Victorian Government Printer |location=Melbourne |pages=46–47 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7228#page/47/mode/1up |access-date=8 April 2023}} The specific epithet (spiculigera) means "carrying a small flower spike".{{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=311 |edition=3rd}}
In 1988, Barbara Lynette Rye described two varieties of P. spiculigera in the journal Nuytsia, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Pimelea spiculigera F.Muell. var. spiculigera{{cite web |title=Pimelea spiculigera var. spiculigera |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/70624 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=7 April 2023}} has an elongated flower cluster at maturity, the floral rachis up to {{cvt|11|mm}} long.{{cite web |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=Pimelea spiculigera var. spiculigera |url= https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Pimelea%20spiculigera%20var.%20spiculigera |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=7 April 2023}}
- Pimelea spiculigera var. thesioides (S.Moore) Rye (previously known as Pimelea thesioides S.Moore){{cite web |title=Pimelea spiculigera var. thesioides |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/70627 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=7 April 2023}} has a compact flower cluster at maturity, the floral rachis {{cvt|1–2|mm}} long.{{cite web |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=Pimelea spiculigera var. thesioides |url= https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Pimelea%20spiculigera%20var.%20thesioides |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=7 April 2023}}
Distribution and habitat
This pimelea grows on granite outcrops and laterite from near Mullewa to Cundeelee and Mount Beaumont (north of Cape Arid National Park), in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Mallee, Murchison and Yalgoo bioregions of Western Australia.{{FloraBase|name=Pimelea spiculigera var. thesioides |id=12104 }} Variety spiculigera has a more limited distribution than var. thesioides, occurring from the Fraser Range (north-east of Dundas) to Mount Beaumont in the Coolgardie and Mallee bioregions.{{FloraBase|name=Pimelea spiculigera var. spiculigera |id=11239 }}
Conservation status
Pimelea spiculigera and both of its varieties are listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q17582279|from2=Q51046605|from3=Q51046616}}
Category:Rosids of Western Australia
Category:Malvales of Australia