244 
LXVII. THYMELEjE. 
[Pimelea. 
6. P. arenaria, A. Cunn.; — FI. N. Z. i. 221. A very beautiful, 
erect, rarely prostrate, small shrub, 8-24 in. high, much branched, villous 
with white, shining, silky hairs ; branches stout, much scarred, most densely 
villous. Leaves close-set, but not imbricating, spreading or reflexed, flat, 
% in. long, broadly oblong or orbicular, obtuse, pilose above, very silky and 
shining below ; floral rather larger and broader. Flowers ^ in. long, villous 
or shaggy. Fruiting-perianth baccate. — Bot. Mag. t. 3270 ; Passerina villosa, 
Tkunb. ; Gymnococca arenaria , Fisch. and Mey. 
Northern Island: especially on sand dunes, near the sea, Banks and Solander , etc. 
Chatham Island, Bieffenbach. Fruit eaten ; bark used for cloth string, etc. Procumbent 
specimens are best distinguished from P. Urvilleana by the large flowers and silky leaves. 
Very closely allied to the Tasmanian F.sericea, and altogether similar to it, except that the 
perianth is not transversely articulate. 
7. P. Urvilleana, A. Rich.; — FI. N. Z. i. 221. A small, widely 
spreading, procumbent species ; branches 2-12 in. long, horizontally extend- 
ing, white with short silky wool. Leaves close-set, often imbricate, very 
thick and coriaceous, J in. long, sessile, broadly oblong or obovate-oblong, 
obtuse, concave, nerveless, glabrous or sparingly hairy ; floral rather larger and 
broader. Flowers very small, vilious, A in. long ; lobes as long as the tube. 
— P. prostrata, (3, Meisner in A. DC. Prodr. xiv. 517 ; Gymnococca micro- 
carpa, Fisch. and Mey. (?), according to Meisner. 
Northern Island: rocky places near the sea and inland, Banks and Solander, etc. ; 
Bay of Islands, A. Cunningham; Mount Egmont, Bieffenbach. The bark of this was 
chewed and beaten out to make the cloth of which the top-knots of the chiefs were formed, 
etc. Meisner unites this with P. prostrata, not without some reason ; but by the same 
rule most of the other New Zealand species must be united too, for there appear to he forms 
uniting many of them ; this keeps its characters well, both on the coast and inland, and 
these are as marked as between any two consecutive species. 
8. P. prostrata, Vahl; — FI. N. Z. i. 220. A small, prostrate, spread- 
ing, extremely variable species; branches slender, 2-10 in. long, more or less 
hairy, but seldom white with villous hairs, as in P. Urvilleana. Leaves crowded 
and imbricated, erect patent or recurved, or sparse, sessile, not thickly coria- 
ceous, in. long, rarely more, oblong-obovate or lanceolate, obtuse or 
acute, usually nerveless or with a stout midrib below, glabrous ; margins often 
incurved when dry ; floral usually a little larger and broader. Flowers £ 
in. long, villous silky or pilose ; lobes of perianth shorter than the tube. 
Fruit often baccate. — P. laevigata , Gsertn. 
Var. o. Stems stout, suberect, or branches ascending. Leaves oblong or lanceolate. 
Flowers very silky. 
Var. (3. Stems very diffusely branched, more slender ; branches spreading. Leaves ob- 
long or broadly obovate. Flowers very small, silky or nearly glabrous. 
Var. y. Stems suberect, black, tortuous, and scarred. Leaves erecto- patent, ovate or 
linear-lanceolate, acute, glabrous. 
Throughout the Northern and Middle Islands : var. a, abundant, ascending to 4000 
ft.. Banks and Solander, etc.; var. /3 also abundant, especially in hilly districts; var. y, 
alpine regions of the Middle Island, from Nelson ( Travers ) to Otago, Hector. A most 
abundant and most variable plant ; alpine states, with slender, nearly glabrous branches, and 
short, obtnse, rounded leaves, look different, hut pass insensibly into the ordinary states. The 
prostrate habit, glabrous, small foliage and small flowers, distinguish this from P.virgata; the 
grey (not snovv-white) villous hairs of the branches, and less coriaceous leaves, from P. JJrvil- 
