Pimelea simplex
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.
Description
Pimelea simplex is herb or semi-woody annual that typically grows to a height of and has hairy young stems. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stems and are usually narrowly elliptic, long and wide on a short petiole. The flowers are bisexual and borne on the ends of branches in dense clusters of many white to yellowish-green flowers, the rachis densely covered with fine hairs. The floral tube is long, the sepals erect and long. Flowering occurs from June to October.Taxonomy
Pimelea simplex was first formally described in 1853 by Ferdinand von Mueller in the journal Linnaea. The specific epithet, means "simple" or "undivided".In 1983, S. Threlfall described two subspecies of P. simplex in the journal Brunonia, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:Pimelea simplex subsp. continua Threlfall, is a sturdy plant with flower clusters usually long at maturity, on peduncles up to long, the individual flowers long.Pimelea simplex F.Muell. subsp. simplex is a slender plant with flower clusters up to long at maturity, on peduncles up to long, the individual flowers long.