Pimelea ferruginea

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids  > Malvids > Malvales > Thymelaeaceae > Pimelea  ferruginea

Other links:     

Common name:         Pink Rice Flower

Conservation status: Least Concern

• Pimelea ferruginea is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions

Etymology:   

• Pimelea is from the Ancient Greek word pimele, meaning "fat or "lard", possibly referring to the oily seeds or fleshy cotyledons 

• The specific epithet (ferruginea) means "rust-coloured"

Flowers

• The flowers are pale to deep pink and borne in erect, head-like clusters on a hairy peduncle 0.5–1.2 mm long, surrounded by 4 broadly egg-shaped bracts 5–14 mm long, each flower on a hairy pedicel 0.5–1.2 mm long

• The floral tube is 7–13 mm long, the sepals 2.5–4 mm long

• Flowering mainly occurs from August to February

Fruit:                            

Leaves:         

• The leaves are elliptic to narrowly elliptic with the edges curved down, 5–16 mm long and 1.5–6.5 mm wide on a petiole 0.1–1 mm long

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A dense, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–1.5 m and usually has a single stem at ground level

Habitat:   

• Coastal sand dunes and rocky headlands in near-coastal areas

Distribution:                  

• Between Cliff Head near Arrowsmith, and Point Culver, in the Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Pimelea ferruginea was first formally described in 1805 by Jacques Labillardière in his Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimelea_ferruginea (2024)