''Pimelea spicata'', commonly known as the spiked rice flower, is a 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 New South Wales. It is a slender plant with white flowers and elliptic leaves.

Description

''Pimelea spicata'' is a slender upright or decumbent shrub to high with smooth stems. The leaves elliptic to narrowly elliptic, arranged opposite, long, wide, and pointed to rounded at the apex. The flowers are in terminal spikes up to long, single flowers about long, tubular with four rounded spreading petals, white or sometimes pinkish, borne in

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s, crowded when young, elongated at maturity, on a smooth peduncle long at maturity. Flowering occurs mostly from August to December and the fruit is a small, green, narrowly egg-shaped nut about long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pimelea spicata'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a flora of Australia written by botanist Robert Brown and published in 1810. Often referred to as ''Prodromus Flora Novae ...

''. 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 ...

(''spicata'') means "

spicate This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

Distribution and habitat

This pimelea grows in grassland on shale soils in coastal locations from Landsdowne to

Shellharbour Shellharbour (also known as Shellharbour Village) is a suburb located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It also gives its name to the local government area, City of Shellharbour, and its central business district, Shellhar ...

and inland to Penrith.Extends along the coast from Lansdowne south to Shellharbour and inland to Penrith, New South Wales. Invasive weeds which compete with the plant for resources include bridal creeper (''

Asparagus asparagoides ''Asparagus asparagoides'', commonly known as bridal creeper, bridal-veil creeper, ''gnarboola'', smilax or smilax asparagus, is a herbaceous climbing plant of the family Asparagaceae native to eastern and southern Africa. Sometimes grown as an ...

''), bitou bush (''

Chrysanthemoides monilifera ''Osteospermum moniliferum'' ''(Chrysanthemoides monilifera)'' is an evergreen flowering shrub or small tree of the Asteraceae (daisy) family that is native to South Africa, such as the Cape Flats Dune Strandveld habitat. Most subspecies have woo ...

''), blackberry (''

Rubus fruticosus ''Rubus fruticosus'' L. is the ambiguous name of a European blackberry species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the rose family. The name has been interpreted in several ways: *The species represented by the type specimen of ''Rubus fruticosus'' L., ...

'' agg.), St John's wort (''

Hypericum perforatum ''Hypericum perforatum'', known as St. John's wort, is a flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae and the type species of the genus ''Hypericum''. Possibly a hybrid between '' H. maculatum'' and '' H. attenuatum'', the species can be found a ...

''), kikuyu (''

Pennisetum clandestinum The tropical grass species ''Cenchrus clandestinus'' (previously Pennisetum clandestinum) is known by several common names, most often kikuyu grass, as it is native to the highland regions of East Africa that is home to the Kikuyu people. Becau ...

''), lantana (''

Lantana camara ''Lantana camara'' (common lantana) is a species of flowering plant within the verbena family (Verbenaceae), native to the American tropics. It is a very adaptable species, which can inhabit a wide variety of ecosystems; once it has been introduc ...

''), African olive (''

Olea africana ''Olea europaea'' subsp. ''cuspidata'' is a subspecies of the well-known olive tree ('' Olea europaea''), which until recently was considered a separate species (''Olea africana'') and is still mentioned as such in many sources. Native to northea ...

'' subsp. ''africana'') and privet (''

Ligustrum lucidum ''Ligustrum lucidum'', the broad-leaf privet,Weed profile: Privet
New So ...

'').

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7194621 Malvales of Australia spicata Endangered flora of Australia Flora of New South Wales