''Pimelea cinerea'' is a species of 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 Tasmania. It is a slender shrub with more or less elliptic leaves, and heads of white flowers surrounded by leaves.

Description

''Pimelea cinerea'' is a slender shrub that typically grows to a height of , the stems densely hairy but with few branches. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, elliptic to narrowly elliptic or oblong, long and wide on a short petiole. The flowers are borne in few-flowered heads surrounded by 2, 4 or 6

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

-like leaves, and are

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

, white and hairy on a hairy

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

, the floral tube long and 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 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s about long. Flowering occurs from November to January.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pimelea cinerea'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his book '' Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''. 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 ...

(''cinerea'') means "ash-coloured" or "grey".

Distribution and habitat

This pimelea grows in forest in the south and west of Tasmania, mainly at altitudes between .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17581868 cinerea Malvales of Australia Flora of Tasmania Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)