Flora of New Zealand Series

Banksia tomentosa J. R. et G. Forst. Char. Gen. Pl. 1776, 8.

Passerina pilosa Linn. f. Suppl. Pl. 1781, 226.

P. pilosa Forst. f. Prodr. 1786, 28.

Pimelea pilosa Willd. Sp. Pl. 1, 1797, 50.

P. virgata Vahl Enum. Pl. 1, 1805, 306.

Slender, erect, up to ± 5 dm. tall; branchlets ± virgate, slender, clad in ± appressed white to greyish hairs; bark dark brown, lf-scars evident. Lvs subsessile or on slender petioles up to 1 mm. long; lamina at first ascending, at length patent, linear to lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, (10)-15-20-(25) × (3)-4-5 mm., submembr. to thinly coriac.; glabrate above, clad below in dense appressed silky ± caducous hairs; veins obscure. Subfloral lvs ± 7 mm. broad. Infl. of 6-12 fls per head. Per. 6-10 mm. long, densely villous; lobes broad-ovate obtuse. Fr. baccate, white or dark red, ovoid, ± 4-6 mm. long, us. hairy at apex.

DIST.: Three Kings, N., S. Coastal to lower montane shrubland and open places to nearly lat. 42°.

FL. 9-12. FT. 10-1.

A somewhat complex group of forms, with probably several true-breeding vars, not yet clearly differentiated. The description of the Forsters is: "foliis oblongis, subpetiolatis, flaccidis, pilosis"; of Forst. f.: "diandra pilosa, foliis linearibus obtusis". The Forsterian specimen in K is one branching piece, the lvs in poor condition, ± 15 × 3-4 mm., subacute.

P. dichotoma Col. in T.N.Z.I. 22, 1890, 485, is described as: "Scrub 2 ft.-4 ft. high . . . branchlets in pairs . . . Leaves decussate, distant, sessile, linear, 1/2 in. long, 1 line wide, recurved, falcate . . . strigosely hairy below . . . floral leaves (usually 4) . . . ovate-lanceolate, 3/4 in. long, 3 lines wide . . . perianth . . . 3 lines long, tube narrow, reddish and swelling below; lobes 1 line long, sub-oblong-ovate, very obtuse . . . white, much ciliate; throat red . . . Hab. Banks of streamlets, borders of open plains, Tahoraiti, County of Waipawa; 1889: W.C." The type specimens in W have lvs 10-15 × 2-5 mm., ovate-attenuate to lanceolate-acuminate; sub-floral lvs ± 22 × 6 mm. The dichotomy is marked.

Oliver (Rec. Auck. Inst. Mus. 3, 1948, 227) places all the specimens of Pimelea that he has seen from Three Kings Is under P. tomentosa, "Prostrate examples of P. tomentosa, such as those collected by Baylis, could possibly be mistaken for P. prostrata." A specimen from Great Id, kindly sent by Dr Baylis, with "Habit spreading, sometimes almost prostrate" evidences that the status of the forms of Pimelea on Three Kings needs further study. Branch (or stem?) ± 5 mm. diam., apparently procumbent; branches spreading to ascending, up to ± 15 cm. long, stout, still invested with subappressed greyish hairs; branchlets ∞, ascending, densely clad in subappressed white hairs. Lvs subcoriac., elliptic-ovate to ovate, subacute, on petioles ± 1 mm. long. Lamina 9-12 × 3-4-5 mm., glabrate; venation evident to obscure below. Subfloral lvs similar, but thinner. Heads ± 4-6-fld; ♀ per. densely white-pilose; tube swollen at base, 4-5 mm. long; lobes 2-3 mm. long, oblong to ovate-oblong. Fr. dry, ± 3 mm. long, dark-brown.