Pimelea linifolia

Slender Rice Flower at Majura, ACT

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Identification history

Pimelea linifolia	22 Sep 2021	Tapirlord
Pimelea linifolia	22 Sep 2021	mcosgrove
Unidentified	22 Sep 2021	abread111

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User's notes

in a damp area at the edge of the road, some Drosera close by

5 comments

waltraud wrote:

25 Sep 2021

the Census of Vascular plants of the ACT lists 2 subspecies P. linifolia subsp. linifolia, Slender Riceflower and P. linifolia subsp. caesia, Small Slender Riceflower. Would it be possible to id the subspecies based on the photographs? So far the subspecies linifolia has been id-ed on Mt Ainslie ie south of Blue Metal Road.

Tapirlord wrote:

25 Sep 2021

Hi Waltraud, it is indeed possible to ID Pimelea linifolia to subspecies level. Subsp. caesia has triangular flowers bracts while those of sub linifolia are ovular. The bracts of Linifolia are often reddish in colour, whereas caesia is often blueish, but that's more of a generalisation. Caesia only has 7-21 flowers per head whereas linifolia may have almost 50.
There is also a third subsp, collina, which is much rarer and also has more triangular bracts and up to 50 flowers per head. I believe it's known from the Mt Majura area see. Pimelea linifolia subsp. linifolia (Queen of the Bush, Slender Rice-flower)

Good time to go looking for the Pimeleas if you'rere interested in documenting the subsp distribution on Mt Majura. :).

abread111 wrote:

26 Sep 2021

thanks for the tips on identity of subspecies - hard to do as the descriptions at the PlantNet key have a lot of words like "sometimes", "often", "usually", and the sighting of subsp. collina is not clear cut - see more photos from the same location as the collina one at Pimelea linifolia (Slender Rice Flower) (I think it is more likely to be subsp linifolia because of width of leaves and bracts, reddish colour of bracts.)

waltraud wrote:

26 Sep 2021

Many thanks Tapirlord
See Barbs comment at the P linifolia subsp collina record you mentioned above. I wonder whether to collect a sample (flower head with bracts) for id from the "collina"? The Census of Vascular Plants of the ACT doesn't have the collina subspecies included so it would be important to clarify.

waltraud wrote:

27 Sep 2021

The above-mentioned subspecies collina has been corrected. Thanks everyone
w

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