Pimelea stricta
{{Short description|Species of plant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Pimelea stricta.jpg
| image_caption = In the Sandy Creek Conservation Park
| genus = Pimelea
| species = stricta
| authority = Meisn.{{cite web |title=Pimelea stricta |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/70636 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date= 9 April 2023}}
| synonyms =
- Banksia colorans (A.Cunn. ex Meisn.) Kuntze
- Banksia stricta (Meisn.) Kuntze
- Pimelea colorans A.Cunn. ex Meisn.
- Pimelea colorans A.Cunn. ex Meisn. var. colorans
- Pimelea stricta auct. non Meisn.: Curtis, W.M. (1967)
}}
Pimelea stricta, commonly known as gaunt rice-flower,{{cite web |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=Pimelea stricta |url= https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Pimelea%20stricta |publisher=Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date=9 April 2023}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect shrub with narrowly elliptic or linear leaves, and compact heads of densely hairy, creamy-white to yellow flowers surrounded by 4 egg-shaped involucral bracts.
Description
Pimelea stricta is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|0.5–1.5|m}} and has glabrous stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and are narrowly elliptic or linear, {{cvt|5–35|mm}} long and {{cvt|1.0–4.5|mm}} wide on a short petiole. The flowers are bisexual and borne in compact clusters of many hairy, creamy-white to yellow flowers, surrounded by 4 egg-shaped involucral bracts {{cvt|5–13|mm}} and {{cvt|3–9|mm}} wide. The bracts are medium green, sometimes with a yellowish or reddish tinge. The floral tube is {{cvt|7–12|mm}} long, and the sepals are {{cvt|2–4|mm}} long. Flowering occurs in most months with a peak between August and November.{{cite web |last1=Harden |first1=Gwen |title=Pimelea stricta |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Pimelea~stricta |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney |access-date=9 April 2023}}{{cite web |title=Pimelea stricta |url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/speciesfacts_display.cgi?form=speciesfacts&name=Pimelea_stricta |publisher=State Herbarium of South Australia |access-date=9 April 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Entwisle |first1=Timothy J. |last2=Walsh |first2=Neville G. |title=Pimelea stricta |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/28a18015-ca52-43cd-ad60-9cf1bdeabf51 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=9 April 2023}}
Taxonomy
Pimelea stricta was first formally described in 1854 by Carl Meissner in the journal Linnaea from specimens collected in the Mount Lofty Ranges.{{cite web|title=Pimelea stricta|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/481323|publisher=APNI|access-date=9 April 2023}} The specific epithet, (stricta) means "straight" or "upright".{{cite book |author=William T. Stearn |title=Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary |date=1992 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon |edition=4th|page=506}}
Distribution and habitat
Gaunt rice-flower mainly grows in open woodland, in mallee or on hills in sandy soils, and is found from north-eastern New South Wales through Victoria to the Eyre Peninsula and Flinders Ranges in south-eastern South Australia.