Pimelea nitens subsp. aspera
Common name
pimelea
Synonyms
None (first described in 2011)
Family
Thymelaeaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – an interim threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017 . 2018. Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley. Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP, RR, Sp
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR, Sp
2009 | Data Deficient
Brief description
Low growing sprawling shrub with hairy twigs bearing pairs of slightly overlapping oval leaves that have slightly spread hairs on the underside, hairy white flowers and red fruit inhabiting ultramafic area of the northern South Island. Leaves 5-8mm long by 2-3mm wide, hairs often yellowish and crinkled.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (D’Urville Island, eastern Nelson including the Richmond Range)
Habitat
Lowland to alpine. Pimelea nitens subsp. aspera is almost exclusively tied to ultramafic substrates and the soils derived from these (Pimelea nitens subsp. aspera is also occasionally found on sandstone). In these places it grows amongst low sparse and in open ground within tall tussock grassland.
Detailed description
Robust, much-branched, procumbent, decumbent or sometimes semi-upright shrub up, to 250 mm tall; stems usually stiff, up to 400 mm long. Branching mainly sympodial. Young stems brown, densely covered in short, white to greyish or yellowish, fine to coarse, appressed to ascending hairs. Internodes 1-2 mm densely hairy. Older stems thick (to 12 mm), glabrate, dark grey-brown to black. Node buttresses lunate, 0.2 mm long, smooth, brown, sometimes prominent on leafless stems. Leaves decussate, ascending, loosely imbricate, on short (0.5 mm), red petioles. Lamina 5-8 × 2-3 mm, medium to dark green, variable, mostly elliptic to broad-elliptic (rarely ovate to broad-ovate), slightly keeled; tip sharply acute to blunt; base cuneate; abaxial surface densely to moderately densely covered by long, ascending, dull-white, sometimes yellowish, straight (sometimes curled hairs); stomata on both adaxial and abaxial surfaces. Inflorescences terminal, 3-7-flowered. Involucral bracts wider than adjacent leaves (5.0-6.0 × 3.5-3.9 mm). Receptacles with dense short hairs. Plants gynodioecious. Flowers white, on short (0.3 mm) pedicels, densely covered outside with short hairs; inside hairless. Female tube to 3.5 mm long, ovary portion 2 mm, calyx lobes 1.5 × 1.0 mm; hermaphrodite tube to 6 mm long, ovary portion 2 mm, calyx lobes 2.0 × 1.5 mm. Anther dehiscence introrse. Ovary with a cluster of long hairs at summit and sparse, short hairs to base. Fruits ovoid, fleshy, red, 5.0 × 3.5 mm. Seeds 2.5 × 1.8 mm.
Similar taxa
Pimelea nitens subsp. aspera is distinguished from subsp. nitens by the dark grey-brown to black colour of the older stems, elliptic to broad-elliptic (rarely ovate to broad-ovate) leaves with mostly blunt apices, which are abaxially furnished with longer, mostly ascending, dull white to yellowish straight or curled hairs. Pimelea mesoa subsp. macra which is endemic to the Cobb Valley in western Nelson could be confused with P. nitens subsp. aspera from which it differs by its larger size and usually prostrate growth habit.
Flowering
December - February
Flower colours
White
Fruiting
Unknown
Propagation technique
Unknown. Probably easily grown from semi-hard and hardwood cuttings.
Threats
Burrows (2011) offers no meaningful information about this species threat status merely noting (p. 89) that recent surveys had found that Pimelea nitens subsp. aspera was “never abundant”. Based on its known distribution, main substrate preferences and apparent ecology P. nitens subsp. aspera is quite probably a naturally uncommon, biological sparse plant. However, until exact numbers of plants become known a full assessment is clearly impossible. In any case as no attempt was made by Burrows (2011) to provide a threat status using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (see Townsend et al. 2008) at this stage an interim threat assessment of “Data Deficient” is probably appropriate.
Etymology
pimelea: Pimeleoides means “resembling Pimelea’’, a genus in the family Thymelaeaceae (Greek, -oides = resembling, like).
aspera: From the Latin asper ‘rough’, meaning rough or covered with hard short rigid points
Where to Buy
Not commercially available.
Attribution
Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by: P.J. de Lange (1 May 2011) adapted from Burrows (2011).
References and further reading
Burrows, C.J. 2011: Genus Pimelea (Thymelaeaceae) in New Zealand 4. The taxonomic treatment of ten endemic abaxially hairy-leaved species. New Zealand Journal of Botany 49: 41–106.
Townsend, A.J.; de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Molloy, J.; Miskelly, C.; Duffy, C. 2008: The New Zealand Threat Classification System manual. Wellington, Department of Conservation.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Pimelea nitens subsp. aspera Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/pimelea-nitens-subsp-aspera/ (Date website was queried)