612 THYMELHACER. | Pimelea. 
7. P. arenaria, A. Cunn. in Bot. Mag. t. 3270.—An erect or 
spreading rarely procumbent shrub 9-30in. high; branches stout, 
strict, erect or ascending, simple or dichotomously or corymbosely 
branched above, densely clothed with long silvery white appressed 
silky hairs. Leaves opposite and decussate, close-set or remote, 
not usually imbricating, spreading or deflexed, +4 in. long, elliptic- 
oblong to broadly oblong-ovate or almost orbicular, obtuse or sub- 
acute, flat, coriaceous, veinless, glabrous or sparsely pilose above, 
densely clothed with shining silky appressed hairs beneath; floral 
leaves rather larger and broader. Flowers in compact 5-18- 
flowered heads at the tips of the branches, white, polygamo- 
dicecious. Perianth shaggy with white silky hairs, }-}in. long; 
tube short ; lobes oblong, obtuse ; females smaller, with a broader 
base. Anthers oblong. Fruit baccate, rather large-——Precur. n. 
347; Raoul, Choix, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 221; Handb. N.Z. 
Fl. 244. Passerina villosa, Thunb. in Mus. Acad. Upsal. xiii. 106. 
Gymnococea arenaria, Fisch. and Mey. Ind. Sem. Hort. Petrop. x. 
(1845) 47. 
NortH anp SoutH Istanps, CHaTHAM IsLANDS: Abundant on sand-dunes 
on all the coasts. Aute-taranga ; Toroheke. November—March. 
A most beautiful plant, at once recognised by the copious white silky hairs 
on the branches and under-surface of the leayes. According to Mr. Colenso, the 
berries were formerly eaten by the Natives, who also used the inner bark of the 
branches for preparing cloth-like strips for fastening up their hair. 
8. P. levigata, Gaertn. Fruct. i. 186, t. 39, f. 1.—A small pro- 
strate or suberect much-branched shrub; branches scarred, stout or 
slender, long or short, from 4 or 6in. to 2 ft. long ; the younger ones 
usually more or less pubescent or sometimes glabrate, seldom white 
with villous hairs as in P. Urvilleana ; bark dark-brown or reddish- 
brown. Leaves sometimes crowded and quadrifariously imbricate, 
at other times laxly placed, erect or spreading or deflexed, 4,4 in. 
long, lanceolate or linear-oblong to elliptic-oblong or obovate-oblong, 
obtuse or acute, flat or concave, nerveless or the midrib prominent 
beneath, usually glabrous on both surfaces; floral leaves rather 
larger and broader. Flowers in few- or many-flowered heads ~ 
at the tips of the branches, small, white, polygamo-dicecious. 
Perianth }—+in. long, more or less silky-villous or pilose, the 
females smaller and narrower than the males. Fruit usually 
baccate, white, ovoid, acute.—P. prostrata, Willd. Sp. Plant. i. 51; 
A. Rich. Fl. Now. Zel. 174; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 346; Raoul, 
Chow, 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 220; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 244. 
P. rugulosa, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi. (1889) 102. P. micro- 
phylla, P. bicolor, and P. heterophylla, Col. l.c. xxii. (1890) 484— 
486. Passcrina prostrata, Yorst. Prodr.n. 172. Cookia prostrata, 
Gmel. Syst. 24. 
