spiny

rice

flower

Mt Rothwell is fortunate to have the rare Spiny Rice Flower Pimelea spinescens subsp. spinescens. We have approximately 25 plants and hope to further expand the population across our entire Basalt Plains Grassland habitat.

 

The Spiny Rice Flower is a slow-growing woody shrub which can live for 100 years. It has been described as a miniature version of a forest in amongst the grasslands for the reason that it supports an entire little ecosystem including various insects and pollinators in the canopies, a shaded microclimate under the canopy which retains a little more moisture and cover and an incredibly large taproot which has mini-root systems which may possibly interact/communicate with other surrounding plants.