Pimelea sylvestris is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with narrowly elliptic to elliptic leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and compact heads of white or pink flowers surrounded by 2 or 4 pairs of narrowly egg-shaped involucral bracts.

Pimelea sylvestris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Genus: Pimelea
Species:
P. sylvestris
Binomial name
Pimelea sylvestris
Synonyms[1]
  • Banksia sylvestris (R.Br.) Kuntze
  • Calyptrostegia graciliflora (Hook.) Endl.
  • Calyptrostegia sylvestris (R.Br.) C.A.Mey.
  • Pimelea graciliflora Hook.
  • Pimelea sylvestris R.Br. var. sylvestris

Description

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Pimelea sylvestris is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–2 m (1 ft 0 in – 6 ft 7 in) and has glabrous stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, narrowly elliptic or elliptic, 12–45 mm (0.47–1.77 in) long and 2.5–20 mm (0.098–0.787 in) wide on a short petiole. Both surfaces of the leaves are glabrous, the lower surface sometimes a paler shade of green. The flowers are bisexual, glabrous, white or pink and arranged in erect, compact heads, surrounded by 2 or 4 pairs of narrowly egg-shaped medium green, involucral bracts 8–22 mm (0.31–0.87 in) long and 2–10 mm (0.079–0.394 in) wide. Each flower is on a densely hairy pedicel 0.5–0.8 mm (0.020–0.031 in) long. The flower tube is 7–14 mm (0.28–0.55 in) long, the sepals 2.5–6 mm (0.098–0.236 in) long, the stamens longer than the sepals. Flowering mainly occurs from September to December.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

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Pimelea sylvestris was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[5][6] The specific epithet (sylvestris) means "pertaining to woods" or "growing wild".[7]

Distribution and habitat

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This pimelea grows in woodland and forest, sometimes in coastal scrub, and occurs between Jurien Bay and West Mount Barren in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[2][3][4]

Conservation status

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Pimelea sylvestris is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Pimelea sylvestris". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Pimelea sylvestris". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  3. ^ a b Rye, Barbara L. "Pimelea sylvestris". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  4. ^ a b Rye, Barbara L. (1988). "A revision of Western Australian Thymelaeaceae". Nuytsia. 6 (2): 190–193. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Pimelea sylvestris". APNI. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  6. ^ Brown, Robert (1810). Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et insulae Van-Diemen. London. p. 361. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  7. ^ William T. Stearn (1992). Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary (4th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. p. 509.