Macquarie Valley Weeds Committee & Lachlan Valley Weeds Advisory Committee

Desert Rice-flower

Botanical Name:	Pimelea simplex
Other Common Names:
Declarations
	Not Declared
Landholder Responsibilities:
Why Is It Bad?:	Native to Australia, Desert Rice-flower regenerates quickly after drought and becomes the dominant species at this time. This can be dangerous for stock as this plant is toxic. It causes St George disease in cattle, including diarrhoea, wasting, swellings and sometimes death. Desert Rice-flower can have quite a pungent smell when there are dense patches.
Identification
Habit:	Herb
Leaves:	Leaves are yellow or grey-green, alternate, linear to narrow elliptical. 3-25mm long and 0.75-4mm wide. Stems are often woody and red at the base, plant is erect 15-50cm high.
Flowers:	Flowers are bisexual, greenish-yellow to white, tubular, 4-7.5mm long with 4 lobes at the tip and covered in white hairs. Flowers occur in clusters at the end of stems during spring.
Fruit:	Green, oblong or narrow-ovoid, 2.75-3.75mm long.
Roots:
Control Methods
Manual Removal:
Chemical Use:
Fire:
Slashing & Cutting:
Biological Control:
Grazing:	Plant is toxic to stock. Areas with abundant populations of this plant should not be grazed.
Cultivation & Scalping:
Smothering:
Solarisation:
Competition:
Monitoring: