''Pimelea decora'', commonly known as Flinders poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family (biology), 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 Webs ...

and is native to central

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. It is a woody

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

with egg-shaped or

elliptic In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special type of ellipse in ...

leaves and hairy, red and cream-coloured flowers.

Description

''Pimelea decora'' is a woody, perennial that typically grows to a height of with many stems at the base. The leaves are usually arranged in opposite pairs, usually egg-shaped or elliptic, long, wide and

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

. The flowers are arranged in clusters on a

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the ''rachi ...

usually long with 5 to 8 hairy

involucral bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look ...

but that fall off as the flowers open. The flowers are densely hairy, and red with a cream-coloured base, the

floral tube In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube."Lec ...

long. 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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are long and the

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s are much longer than the sepals. Flowering occurs throughout the year.

Taxonomy

''Pimelea decora '' was first formally described in 1928 by

Karel Domin Karel Domin (4 May 1882 – 10 June 1953) was a Czech botanist and politician. Biography Domin was 4 May 1882, Kutná Hora, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. After gymnasium school studies in Příbram, he studied botany at the Charles Uni ...

in his ''Bibliotheca Botanica'', from specimens he collected near

Hughenden Hughenden may refer to: *Hughenden, Queensland, a town in Australia * Hughenden, Alberta, a village in central Alberta, Canada *Hughenden Valley, a village in Buckinghamshire, England *Hughenden Manor, a mansion in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Eng ...

in 1910. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''decora'') means "beautiful".

Distribution and habitat

Flinders poppy grows in grassland, often in rocky soil and is found in central Queensland, mainly south-east of Hughenden. Domin noted that the species is very poisonous to livestock.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21306552 decora Flora of Queensland Malvales of Australia Plants described in 1928 Taxa named by Karel Domin