Pimelea trichostachya

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Annual rice-flower
Pimelea trichostachya detail.jpg
Flowers of Pimelea trichostachya near Bourke, New South Wales
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Genus: Pimelea
Species:
P. trichostachya
Binomial name
Pimelea trichostachya
Habit northeast of Alice Springs Pimelea trichostachya habitus.jpg
Habit northeast of Alice Springs

Pimelea trichostachya, commonly known as annual riceflower, spiked riceflower [2] or flax weed, [3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to continental Australia. It is a slender, semi-woody, annual shrub with narrowly elliptic or linear leaves and densely hairy, white or yellow flowers and green, purple-tinged fruit. It is toxic to livestock.

Contents

Description

Pimelea trichostachya is a slender, erect, sem-woody annual shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 75 cm (30 in) and has hairy stems. The leaves are arranged alternately and are narrowly elliptic or linear, 4–19 mm (0.16–0.75 in) long and 0.5–5 mm (0.020–0.197 in) wide. The leaves are glabrous or sparsely hairy. The flowers are arranged in head-like spikes about 10 mm (0.39 in) long and wide, on the ends of branchlets on a peduncle up to 19 mm (0.75 in) long, each flower on a hairy pedicel. The flowers are bisexual, white or yellow and densely covered with long, spreading hairs. Flowering occurs in most months with a peak from August to December and the fruit is green with a purplish tinge and about 3 mm (0.12 in) long. [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Taxonomy

Pimelea trichostachya was first formally described in 1848 by John Lindley in Thomas Mitchell's Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia. [9] [10] The specific epithet (trichostachya) means "hairy flower-spike". [11]

Distribution

Annual rice-flower mainly grows in deep sand im mallee and occurs in all mainland states and the Northern Territory, but is absent from most of the north of the country, from the east and west coasts and from most of Victoria. [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Effect on livestock

Pimelea trichostachya, along with P. simplex and P. elongata , is toxic to stock. The first cases of "St George disease" were reported in Queensland in 1921, but it was not until 1960 that pimelea poisoning was identified as the cause. Symptoms of poisoning in cattle include fluid swellings, mostly under the jaw, diarrhoea and weight loss. Horses and sheep are also susceptible. [3] [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Pimelea spicata</i> Species of flowering plant

Pimelea spicata, commonly known as the spiked rice flower, is a flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a slender plant with white flowers and elliptic leaves.

<i>Pimelea octophylla</i> Species of plant

Pimelea octophylla, commonly known as woolly riceflower or downy riceflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect shrub with densely hairy young stems, narrowly elliptic leaves and heads of 22 to 45 densely hairy, cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers surrounded by 6 to 12 leaf-like involucral bracts.

<i>Pimelea ciliolaris</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea ciliolaris is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of New South Wales. It is a stunted shrub with narrowly elliptic leaves and heads of densely hairy, cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers.

<i>Pimelea glauca</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea glauca, commonly known as smooth riceflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has elliptic to more or less lance-shaped or linear leaves and creamy-white flowers arranged in heads of seven or more on the ends of the stems, with four lance-shaped to egg-shaped bracts at the base of the inflorescence.

<i>Pimelea neoanglica</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea neoanglica, commonly known as poison pimelea or scanty riceflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to inland areas of eastern Australia. It is an erect, dioecious shrub with narrowly elliptic leaves and heads of greenish-yellow flowers.

<i>Pimelea curviflora</i> Species of plant

Pimelea curviflora, also known as curved rice-flower, is a shrub in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a small, hairy shrub with greenish-yellow or red tubular flowers.

<i>Pimelea amabilis</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea amabilis is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to northern Queensland. It is a small shrub with narrowly elliptic or elliptic leaves and spikes of hairy, yellowy-green or yellow, tube-shaped flowers.

Pimelea approximans is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to northern Queensland. It is a perennial shrub with elliptic leaves and spikes of hairy, yellow, tube-shaped flowers.

Pimelea cinerea is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a slender shrub with more or less elliptic leaves, and heads of white flowers surrounded by leaves.

<i>Pimelea cracens</i> Species of flowering plant

Pimelea cracens is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect, spindly shrub with narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped leaves and creamy green to pale yellow flowers surrounded by 6 or 8 yellowish or pale green and reddish involucral bracts.

<i>Pimelea decora</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea decora, commonly known as Flanders poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is native to central Queensland. It is a woody perennial herb with egg-shaped or elliptic leaves and hairy, red and cream-coloured flowers.

Pimelea elongata is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to inland areas of eastern Australia. It is a slender forb with linear to narrowly elliptic leaves and spikes of hairy, yellowish-green flowers.

<i>Pimelea confertiflora</i> Species of shrub

Pimelea confertiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to north Queensland. It is a shrub with densely hairy young stems, elliptic or narrowly elliptic leaves and spikes of yellowish-green or yellow, tube-shaped flowers.

Pimelea fugiens is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to central Queensland. It is a shrub with elliptic leaves and heads of 12 to 18 pale yellow, tube-shaped flowers.

Pimelea leptostachya is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to central Queensland. It is a shrub with narrowly elliptic leaves and spikes of maroon or yellow, tube-shaped flowers arranged in groups of 13 to 23.

Pimelea milliganii, commonly known as silver riceflower or Milligan's rice flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to a restricted part of Tasmania. It is a low, much-branched, densely hairy shrub with more or less elliptic leaves and compact clusters of white to pinkish flowers usually surrounded by two leaf-like involucral bracts.

Pimelea penicillaris, commonly known as sandhill riceflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Central Australia. It is an erect, dioecious shrub with densely hairy young stems, densely hairy, pale silvery green, elliptic leaves, and compact heads of white to yellow or pink flowers surrounded by 6 to 12 silky-hairy, silvery or brownish involucral bracts.

Pimelea sericostachya is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is an undershrub or shrub with densely hairy young stems, narrowly elliptic leaves, and heads of yellow or pale yellow flowers.

<i>Pimelea simplex</i> Species of plant

Pimelea simplex, commonly known as desert rice-flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to inland Australia. It is a herb or semi-woody annual with narrowly elliptic to linear leaves, and compact heads of densely hairy white to yellowish-green flowers.

<i>Pimelea strigosa</i> Species of plant

Pimelea strigosa, is a flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a shrub with hairy young stems, elliptic leaves and heads of 7 to 23 yellow flowers, sometimes with a red tinge.

References

  1. ↑ "Pimelea trichostachya". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "Pimelea trichostachya". Northern Territory Government. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Understanding Pimelea Poisoning of Cattle" (PDF). Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Pimelea trichostachya". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Pimelea trichostachya". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Pimelae trichostachya". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Pimelea trichostachya". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  8. 1 2 Harden, Gwen J. "Pimelea trichostachya". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  9. ↑ "Pimelea trichostachya". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  10. ↑ Mitchell, Thomas Livingstone (1848). Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia. Sydney. p. 355. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  11. ↑ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 326. ISBN   9780958034180.
  12. ↑ Marshall, Alys. "Queensland cattle graziers predict 'horrific' cattle deaths as toxic pimelea booms". ABC News. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
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