''Pimelea interioris'' 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 Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to a restricted part of the south of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is a shrub with hairy, narrowly elliptic leaves and clusters of creamy-white to pale yellow, separate male and female flowers.

Description

''Pimelea interioris'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has hairy stems. Its leaves are usually arranged alternately, narrowly elliptic, long, wide and hairy, especially on the lower surface. The flowers are arranged in small clusters of mostly separate male and female, creamy-white to pale yellow flowers that are densely hairy on the outside. The flower tube is long, 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 long, and 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 are attached inside the flower tube. Flowering occurs between July and November.

Taxonomy

''Pimelea interioris'' was first formally described in 1990 by

Barbara Lynette Rye Barbara Lynette Rye is an Australian botanist born in 1952. Barbara Rye has been associated with the Western Australian Herbarium, where her work as a taxonomist has been the source of many new descriptions of plants. The number of taxa recorded ...

in the '' Flora of Australia'' from specimens collected by George Chippendale in Palm Valley in 1956. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''interioris'') means "interior" and refers to the occurrence of the species in central Australia.

Distribution and habitat

This pimelea grows in rocky gullies and in sheltered sites in gorges, and is only known from Palm Valley in the

Finke Gorge National Park Finke Gorge National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia located about south of the territory capital of Darwin. The national park covers an area of , and includes the impressive desert oasis Palm Valley, home to a ...

Conservation status

''Pimelea interioris'' is listed as "near threatened" under the

Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17582319 interioris Malvales of Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Plants described in 1990 Taxa named by Barbara Lynette Rye