Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Pimelea aridula Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl., ed. 2, 582 (1925)
Synonymy:
  • = Pimelea aridula Cockayne, Veg. N.Z. 356 (1921) nom. inval.
 Description

A medium-sized, upright shrub, up to 60 cm tall. Long-stemmed plants may be fastigiate; short-stemmed plants often have more divergent branches. Branching mainly sympodial. Main stems stiff or flexible. Young branchlets brown, moderately to densely covered with long hair; internodes 0.5–2 mm; old stems at the base may be stout (to 1 cm diam. or more), grey–brown, glabrous. Node buttresses lunate, brown, hairy, often masked by hairs on young stems, moderately conspicuous on leafless stems. Leaves usually decussate, on short, red petioles (0.5 mm), rarely alternate on some young branchlets, ascending, loosely imbricate. Lamina 8–15×2–3 mm, medium green, slightly adaxially concave, narrow–ovate, acute, base cuneate, both surfaces often densely covered by appressed white or grey–white to yellowish, hispid to villous hairs, comose at tip. Stomata on both leaf surfaces. Inflorescences terminal, 5–10 flowered, sometimes in small clusters. Involucral bracts similar in size to adjacent leaves or slightly wider (8–10×3.2 mm), partly hiding the flowers. Receptacle densely hairy. Plants gynodioecious. Flowers white, on short pedicels (0.5 mm), densely hairy outside, inside sparsely hairy in tube or without hair. ♀ tube 3–3.5 mm long, ovary portion 2 mm, calyx lobes 1.5×0.8 mm; tube 6–6.5 mm long, ovary portion 2.5 mm, calyx lobes 2.5×1.5 mm. Anther dehiscence introrse. Ovary hairy from summit to two thirds of the way down. Fruits ovoid, dry, brown, 4×2.3 mm. Seeds ovoid 3–4×1.9–2.1 mm. Flowering summer.

[Reproduced from Burrows (2011, New Zealand J. Bot. 49: 367–412) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Number of subspecific taxa in New Zealand within Pimelea aridula Cheeseman
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Endemic)2
Total2
 Bibliography
Burrows, C.J. 2011: Genus Pimelea (Thymelaeaceae) in New Zealand 5. The taxonomic treatment of five endemic species with both adaxial and abaxial leaf hair. New Zealand Journal of Botany 49(3): 367–412.
Cheeseman, T.F. 1925: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Edition 2. Government Printer, Wellington.
Cockayne, L. 1921: The Vegetation of New Zealand - Die Vegetation der Erde XIV. Vol. 1. Leipzig.
de Lange, P.J.; Heenan, P.B.; Given, D.R.; Norton, D.A.; Ogle, C.C.; Johnson, P.N.; Cameron, E.K. 1999: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 37: 603–628.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [as Pimelea aridula Cockayne] [Declining]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76. [as Pimelea aff. aridula (b) (AK 230900; Cook Strait)]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [as Pimelea aff. aridula (b) (AK 230900; Cook Strait)] [Nationally Endangered]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [as Pimelea aff. aridula (b) (AK 230900; Cook Strait)] [Nationally Endangered]