Pimelea. | THYMELH ACER. 611 
Nortu Istanp: Mountains near the head of the Tairua River, J. Adams ! 
Mount Hikurangi, S. Dodgshun, Adams and Petrie! Tongariro and Ruapehu, 
Colenso, Captain G. Mair! H. Hill! Rev. F. H. Spencer! Ruahine Mountains, 
Colenso, Petrie! A. Hamilton! H. Hill! Kaweka Mountain, Colenso ! 1500- 
4500 ft. December—March. 
Very close to P. Gnidia, but easily distinguished by the branches being 
hirsute with coarse hairs. Hooker mentions the ‘‘ evident lateral nerves’’ of 
the leaves as a good character, but I find that the leaves frequently have the 
veins very obscure. 
3). P. virgata, Vahl. Enum. i. 306.—A slender erect much- 
branched shrub 1-4ft. high; branches long, slender, virgate, 
slightly ringed with the scars of the fallen leaves, younger ones 
more or less clothed with appressed silky hairs. Leaves spread- 
ing, close together or remote, not imbricate, almost sessile, 4-1 in. 
long, linear-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, not coriaceous, flat, 
nerveless, usually glabrous above, pilose with appressed silky hairs. 
beneath ; floral leaves similar or occasionally larger and ovate-lanceo- 
late. Flowers in compact 6-12-flowered heads at the tips of the 
branches, sometimes becoming axillary by the rapid growth of leafy 
shoots springing from beneath the heads. Perianth ++ in. long, 
densely silky-villous; tube swollen at the base; lobes ovate, obtuse. 
Fruit usually baccate, white, ovoid-oblong, 4—4in. long, often hairy 
at the tip.—A. Rich. Fl. Nowv. Zel. 173; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 345 ; 
Raoul, Choiw, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 220; Handb. N.Z. Fi. 
243. P. pilosa, Willd. Sp. Plant. i. 50. P. dichotoma, Col. in 
Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 485. Passerina pilosa, Linn. f. 
Suppl. 226; Forst. Prodr. n. 171. 
NortH AnD SourH Isntanps: From the Three Kings Islands and the 
North Cape to Nelson and Marlborough. Sea-level to 2000 ft. September— 
December. 
A common plant in the northern portion of the colony, well marked by the 
slender habit and rather lax lanceolate spreading leaves. 
6. P. Haastii, 7. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xii. (1880) 396. — 
“A strict low-growing shrub 6-10 in. high; branches few (?), very 
slender, white with silky hairs. Leaves in distant pairs, petioled, 
ascending, narrow-lanceolate, #-14in. long, acute, hairy below or 
nearly glabrous, margins recurved ; floral leaves similar. Flowers 
5-8 in a head, very small; perianth swollen below, silky; lobes 
narrow, spreading. Filaments short. Style equalling the perianth- 
tube. Fruit not seen.” 
SoutH Isnanp: Alps of Canterbury, Haast, Armstrong ! 
Of this species I have only seen a single very fragmentary specimen in 
Mr. Kirk’s herbarium, and have consequently quoted the original description. 
It appears to differ little from P. virgata, except in the more slender habit and 
distant rather longer and broader leaves. 
