''Pimelea alpina'', the alpine rice-flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Website, St. Louis. It ...

and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect, prostrate or spreading shrub or undershrub with narrowly elliptic leaves crowded at the ends of branches and heads of pinkish red or white flowers.

Description

''Pimelea alpina'' is an erect, or prostrate or spreading shrub or undershrub that typically grows to a height of and has glabrous stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, mostly crowded at the end of branches, and are narrowly elliptic, long and wide. The flowers are borne in heads of 5 to 18 on a

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

up to long with four elliptic to egg-shaped

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s long at the base of the head. The flowers are usually pinkish red, rarely white, the

floral cup In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

long and the

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s about long, the

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s shorter than the sepals. Flowering occurs from July to March, the fruit is long and green, enclosed in the remains of the floral cup.

Taxonomy

''Pimelea alpina'' was first formally described in 1857 by Carl Meissner in ''

Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis ''Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' (1824–1873), also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Prodr. (DC.)'', is a 17-volume treatise on botany initiated by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. De Candolle intended it as a summa ...

'' from an unpublished description by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

of specimens he collected in the

Cobberas Range The Cobberas Range, a mountain range that is part of the Great Dividing Range within the Victorian Alps, is located in north-eastern Victoria in Australia. The range is located in the Cobberas Wilderness area of the Alpine National Park. Peaks ...

Distribution and habitat

Alpine rice-flower occurs in woodland, heath or grassland in alpine and sub-alpine areas at altitudes between in the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range cordillera system ...

of New South Wales and the eastern highlands of Victoria.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7194607 alpina Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (Australia) Malvales of Australia Plants described in 1857 Taxa named by Carl Meissner