Pimelea linifolia

Slender Rice Flower

Pimelea linifolia, commonly known as slender rice flower is a common, variable shrub widespread throughout eastern Australia
It has narrow leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and usually white flowers arranged in heads of seven or more on the ends of the stems
It has four lance-shaped bracts at the base of the inflorescence
The plant may be toxic to livestock

Common name: Slender Rice Flower

Conservation status: Least concern

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 (linifolia) strictly means "thread-like leaf" but is also used for "linear leaf"

Flowers

The flowers are white, sometimes pink, mostly 10–20 mm long
They are arranged in heads of between seven and sixty on the ends of the stems, with four, sometimes eight bracts at the base
Some flowers are bisexual and others are female, the female flowers shorter
The bracts are sessile, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, 7–17 mm long and 3–11 mm wide

Fruit:

Leaves:

The leaves are glabrous, narrow egg-shaped to elliptic, 3–40 mm long and 1–9 mm wide

Stem & branches:

Roots:

Habit:

A variable shrub, sometimes prostrate, sometimes growing to a height of 1.5 m, with glabrous stems.

Habitat:

Distribution:

Widespread and common in eastern Australia
It occurs from north-east Queensland, through the eastern half of NSW, all but the far north-west of Victoria, the south-east of South Australia and throughout Tasmania

Additional notes:

Taxonomy and naming
- Pimelea linifolia was first formally described in 1793 by James Edward Smith from a specimen that "flowered in the greenhouse of Lord Viscount Lewisham in February 1794"
Ecology
- This plant is suspected of being poisonous to sheep, but the evidence is inconclusive
Uses
- The bark of P. linifolia can be processed into fine strong thread for catching the bogong moth
- This string, called a 'Bushman's bootlace', is produced by a traditional method that involves wetting, drying, beating and rolling the material

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