608 THYMELHACER. [Pumelea. 
is specially the case with P. virgata, P. levigata, P. Urvilleana, and P. Lyall, 
the numerous forms of which require a careful study in the field before their 
proper position can be determined. 
The flowers of Pimelea are usually described as hermaphrodite. But all the 
New Zealand species are functionally dicecious, or occasionally polygamo- 
dicecious. The male flowers are the most numerous and the most conspicuous. 
The stamens have long slender filaments, so that the anthers either reach the 
top of the perianth-lobes or are slightly exserted; and the style with its com- 
paratively small stigma is always included within the perianth. I have never 
seen fruit in this form, and believe that the pistil is quite functionless. The 
female flowers are smaller, often swollen at the base, although narrower above. 
The anthers are small, almost sessile, and are usually devoid of pollen. The 
ovary is large, with a short style and large capitate stigma, which is conspicu- 
ously exserted when the flower is mature. Pollen is sometimes present in this 
form, but in the majority of cases the flowers are strictly female. 
A. Hrect shrubs. Branches and leaves usually glabrous. 
Leaves 1-3 in., broad or narrow lanceolate, flat. Flowers 
Zin. long .. a6 #4 ae be .. 1. P. longifolia. 
Leaves 4-$in., cs tae or linear - oblong, often keeled. 
Flowers 4-3 in. -. 2. P. Gnidia. 
Leaves 4-tin., oblong or obovate- -oblong, obtuse. Flowers 
4-4 in. a Be ee ws ae .. 3. P. Traversu. 
B. Erect or rarely procumbent shrubs. Branches pubescent or villous with 
silky hairs. ‘ 
Leaves 4-4 in., quadrifariously imbricate, phous. or elliptic, 
keeled, glabrous ; floral often larger .. 4. P. buxifolia. 
Leaves per in., not imbricate, linear- lanceolate, flat, silky 
beneath .. 5. P. virgata. 
Leaves #-14in., in distant pairs, broadly lanceolate, silky 
beneath .. Bi = ae a .. 6. P. Haasim. 
Leaves 4-3in., opposite and decussate, oblong or elliptic, 
under-surface clothed with appressed white silky hairs 7. P.arenaria. 
C. Prostrate or procumbent or rarely erect shrubs. Branches pubescent or 
villous with silky hairs. 
Branches grey, pubescent or villous or glabrate. Leaves 
75-4 in., linear - oblong to obovate - oblong, usually 
glabrous M52 “fe 5% .. 8. P. laevigata. 
Branches with soft villous hairs. Leaves $- in., opigaee 
obtuse, glabrous... 9. P. Urvilleana. 
Branches tortuous, sparingly silky. Leaves yin., narrow 
linear-lanceolate, surfaces glabrous, margins and apices 
ciliate ie ee ot % 5 .. 10. P. Suteri. 
Branches silky. Leaves 4-}in., linear-oblong to elliptic- 
oblong, silky rg. ae .. 11. P. Lyatin. 
Branches densely silky - villous. Leaves 4-4 in., linear- 
oblong to elliptic-oblong, very densely silky-villous on 
both surfaces : 32 3 aie .. 12. P.sericeo-villosa. 
P. polycephala, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 487, a small densely 
branched species with something of the appearance of a dwarf specimen of 
P. Travers, differs from all the known New Zealand species in the coloured and 
membranous floral leaves. But the type specimen in Mr. Colenso’s herbarium 
is a mere fragment in very bad condition, and until better specimens are 
obtained it is quite impossible to be sure of the relationships of the plant. 
