II.— BOTANY. 



Art. XXII. — Descrij^tion of a Neio Species of Pimelea. 

 By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 



[Read before the Nelson Pliilosopliical Society, 11th December, 1S93.] 



Pimelea suteri, n.s. 



Stems suberector spreading 4in.-10in. high, much branched, 

 branches slender, naked and scarred below, bark black ; spar- 

 ingly silky above with rather long straight hairs. Leaves 

 about fin. long, erecto-patent, sessile, narrow linear-lanceolate, 

 more or less concave above, with ciliated margins and apices, 

 scarcely acute. Flowers small, in 5-8 flowered capitula rarely 

 exceeding the leaves ; perianth silky or villous. Fruit baccate, 

 ovate-acuminate, hairy at the apex, opaque, red. 



Hab. South Island : Dun Mountain, Nelson, alt. 3,000ft. 

 P. Lawson! (1868). W. T. L. Travers ! B. I. Kingsletj ! 



This species is most nearly related to P. prostrata, Yahl., 

 and P. urvilleana, k. Eich.; but the fruit is quite unlike 

 that of any other species. Mr. N. E. Brown, of the Kew 

 Herbarium, who has kindly compared my plant with type 

 specimens of various species, informs me that he considers it 

 specifically distinct, although it is identical with P. prostrata, 

 var. y, of the " Handbook of the New Zealand Flora." It 

 differs, however, from that form in the leaves never being ovate, 

 truly acute, or glabrous : in all the specimens examined the 

 hairs are confined to the margins and apices of the leaves. 



As in all the New Zealand species with small leaves, the 

 flowers of P. suteri are functionally dioecious, although ap- 

 parently hermaphrodite. The staminate flowers may be dis- 

 tinguished at a glance by the greater length of the perianth ; 

 the erect anthers are distinctly exserted and produce abun- 

 dance of pollen, while the short style, with its small abortive 

 stigma, is invariably glabrous. 



In the pistillate plant the anthers are invariably abortive, 

 and are hidden in the tube of the perianth ; the large capitate 

 stigma, thickly clothed with short papillose hairs, is prominent 

 at the mouth of the tube, where it takes the place of the 

 anthers in the proper staminate plant. 



