''Pimelea neokyrea'' 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 the southwest of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub with narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly ellipic leaves and erect clusters of white or pale yellow flowers surrounded by egg-shaped involucral bracts. It was previously included in '' Pimelea avonensis''.

Description

''Pimelea neokyrea'' is a spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of , its stems glabrous except for hair tufts below the flowers. The leaves are narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic, long, wide on a petiole long, with the edges of the leaves curved downwards. The flowers are arranged in erect clusters surrounded by egg-shaped involucral bracts that are yellowish to reddish near their bases. 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 are about long, the floral tube 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 August to October.

Taxonomy

''Pimelea neokyrea'' was first formally described in 1999 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 ...

and the description was published in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' from specimens collected by

Greg Keighery Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people *Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadi ...

near Cranbrook in 1984. 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 ...

(''neokyrea'') means "recent light upon", referring to its previously incorrect placement in ''Pimelea avonensis''.

Distribution and habitat

This pimelea grows on hillslopes in mallee heath, often with jarrah ('' Eucalyptus marginata'') in the Avon Wheatbelt and

Jarrah Forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...

bioregions of south-western

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Conservation status

''Pimelea neokyrea'' is listed as " Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state de ...

, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17582305 neokyrea Malvales of Australia Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1999 Taxa named by Barbara Lynette Rye