Forked Rice-flower

Pimelea hewardiana is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 40–70 cm (16–28 in), it young stems covered with short hairs. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 3–11.5 mm (0.12–0.45 in) long, 1.0–3.5 mm (0.039–0.138 in) wide on a short petiole. The lower surface of the leaves is paler than the upper surface. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branches or in leaf axils in head-like, compact clusters of 7 to 34, surrounded by 4 glabrous, leaf-like involucral bracts 5–11 mm (0.20–0.43 in) long and 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) wide. The flowers are unisexual and yellow, the flower tube 1.0–2.5 mm (0.039–0.098 in) long, the sepals 0.5–1.5 mm (0.020–0.059 in) long, and the stamens in male flowers shorter than the sepals. Flowering mainly occurs from April to October.

Forked rice-flower grows in mallee shrubland, usually in rocky ground, from the Glenelg River to the Bacchus Marsh area, west of Melbourne. It was formerly found in south-eastern South Australia, but is now considered to be extinct in that state.