Pimelea physodes

Qualup Bell

Pimelea physodes, commonly known as Qualup bell, is a species of shrub that is endemic to Western Australia
It has egg-shaped to narrow elliptical leaves and distinctive bell-like inflorescences with tiny greenish flowers surrounded by long elliptical bracts
The inflorescence resembles those of some of the only distantly-related darwinia "bells" and the bracts are a combination of red, purple, green and cream-coloured

Common name: Qualup Bell

Conservation status: Not Threatened

This pimelea is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife

Etymology:

The specific epithet (physodes) is from an ancient Greek word meaning "a pair of bellows", referring to the paired bracts around the flowers
The specific epithet (physodes) is from an ancient Greek word meaning "a pair of bellows", referring to the paired bracts around the flowers

Flowers

The flowers are arranged in a bell-like inflorescence similar to those of some species of the distantly related darwinias, especially Darwinia macrostegia, (Mondurup bell)
The peduncle of the inflorescence is 3–14 mm long
Each flower is green or creamy green with a floral cup 6–9 mm long, the sepals very narrow triangular and about the same length
The flowers are mostly bisexual but a few are female
The stamens are 11–16 mm long, as with other pimeleas there are no petals and the style is reddish and protrudes from the flower
Each group of flowers is surrounded by three or four pairs of green and cream-coloured bracts, usually also with varying amounts of red or purple
These bracts (strictly involucral bracts) are elliptical, 22–60 mm long and 11–45 mm wide and glabrous
Flowering occurs from July to October.

Fruit:

Leaves:

The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, more or less sessile
They are egg-shaped to narrow elliptical with the same shade of green on each side
They are 12–32 mm long and 5–11 mm wide

Stem & branches:

Roots:

Habit:

Pimelea physodes is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.2–1 m and has a single stem at ground level

Habitat:

Distribution:

Qualup bell between the Pallarup Nature Reserve, Fitzgerald River National Park, Jarramungup and Mount Desmond near Ravensthorpe

Additional notes:

Taxonomy
- Pimelea physodes was first formally described in 1852 by William Jackson Hooker in his book Icones Plantarum, from material collected by James Drummond
Ecology
- Gregory John Keighery has recorded the tawny-crowned honeyeater (Gliciphila meanops) as a probable pollinator of the Qualup bell

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