Pimelea barbata subsp. barbata

Detailed description

Prostrate shrubs, sometimes forming large patches, to 1 m or more wide; may be pendent on cliffs. Branching mainly sympodial. Young branchlets brown, densely covered by relatively long white to dull-white hairs; internodes 1.5-6.0 mm long; older stems glabrate, grey-brown to brown. Node buttresses lunate (0.4 mm long) masked by hairs on young branchlets, not very prominent on leafless stems. Leaves decussate, on very short petioles (0.4 mm), ascending, often becoming patent to deflexed. Lamina 7-10 × 4-6 mm, broad-ovate, sometimes oblong, slightly adaxially concave, obtuse (rarely acute), base cuneate. Adaxial leaf hairs usually sparse; abaxial hairs dense. Vesture moderately long, white to dull-white, hispid, villous, or rarely curled, appressed and often antrorse. Older leaves may be glabrate, dull-green. Mid-vein may be evident abaxially. Stomata on both adaxial and abaxial surfaces. Inflorescences terminal on branchlets, compact, 2-7-flowered. Involucral bracts 4, the same size as or larger than adjacent leaves (7-10 × 4-6 mm). Receptacle with dense, long hairs. Plants gynodioecious. Flowers white on very short pedicels (0.6 mm). Outside densely hairy, inside hairless. Female tube 4 mm long, ovary portion 2 mm, calyx lobes 1.8 × 1.2 mm; hermaphrodite tube 6.5 mm long, ovary portion 2 mm, calyx lobes 2.3 × 1.9 mm. Anther dehiscence introrse. Ovary with short sparse hairs on summit. Fruits ovoid, fleshy, red 5.0-6.0 × 3.5-4.0 mm; seeds ovoid 3.2 × 2.0 mm, crest thin.