37 



THYMEL AEACE AE . 



Pimelea Williamsonii, nov. sp. (tab. vi.J. Fruticulus 

 totus sericeo-villosus circiter 20 cm. alius, ram is erectis vel 

 ascend 'entib us, foliis alternis confertis subimbricatis ohlongo- 

 lanceolatis planis 10-15 mm . longis, floribus bisexualibus, spicis 

 pedunculatis ramidos terminantibus primum ovoideis com- 

 pacts et foliis supremis obtedtis sed non involucratis demum 

 usque ad 7 cm. elongatis, perianthio J/.-5 mm. longo post 

 anthesin circumscisso, parte inferior e fructiferd 3 mm. longd 

 pilis longis erecto-patentibus occulta, fructu obtuso valde 

 ventricoso, exocarpio subherbaceo, endocarpio tenerrimo, testa 

 seminis Crustacea atrd sub lente punctulatd apice uncinatd, 

 endopleurd membranaced. 



South Australia. — Parilla (W. Gill Herbarium). 



Victoria. — Murrayville (H. B. Williamson). 



This species is named after Mr. H. B. Williamson, the 

 well-known Victorian botanist and collector, who discovered 

 it at Murrayville, 15 miles' east of Pinnaroo, in 1917, and 

 drew my attention to it when he was on a visit to Adelaide. 

 It is distinguished from P. sericostachya, F. v. M., and P. 

 trichostacliya, Lindl., by its shrubby character and denser 

 clothing of hairs, its broader leaves, which are crowded so as 

 to appear somewhat imbricate, instead of distant, as in the 

 two species named. It differs also in the smaller fruit, obtuse 

 and ventricose almost from the summit, instead of gradually 

 swollen towards the base, and in the hooked and smoother 

 testa. The perianth of sericostachya is appressed-pubescent, 

 while that of Williamsonii is covered by long, spreading-erect 

 hairs. The method here employed of describing the fruit and 

 seed is not that of the Flora Australiensis, but accords with the 

 later view adopted by Bentham and Hooker in the Grenera 

 Plantarum, and by other recent botanists who have dealt 

 with thus geilus. 



P. petrophila, F. v. M. Mount Patawurta (E. H. Ising). 

 Leaves 10-15 mm. long, drying blue, as in some specimens of 

 P. flava ; flowers white, all female in my specimen. In the 

 Tate Herbarium is a specimen from Wirrabara with leaves 

 15-25 mm. long, and male and female flowers in the same 

 head. The only difference between this species and P. flava 

 is that the leaves of the former are lanceolate-oblong, mostly 

 acute and rather longer, while the involucral bracts are of 

 the same shape as the leaves and considerably surpass the 

 flowers. The distinction that in P. flava the perianth-tube 

 does not extend above the ovary, while in P. petrophila it 

 does so extend, is illusory. Both in the yellow-flowered typical 

 form of P. flava, found in the Eastern States, and in the 

 var. dios mi folia, the tube extends 1-1^ mm. above the ovary 



