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  4. Pimelea xenica

Pimelea xenica

Hikurua / de Surville Cliffs, Te Paki.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Hikurua / de Surville Cliffs, Te Paki.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Node buttresses and hairs on stem. Hikurua / de Surville Cliffs, Te Paki.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Inflorescence. Hikurua / de Surville Cliffs, Te Paki.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/10/2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Showing typical growth habit.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

Simplified description

Sprawling shrub to 30 cm tall (usually less) with greyish-hairy stems bearing overlapping pairs of outwrd pointing thin blue-green leaves, hairy white flowers and white fruit inhabiting northern North Island south to Hawke’s Bay. Leaves 4–5.5 mm long by 1.5–2.2 mm long, dished, inrolled when dry.

Flower colours

White

Detailed description

A moderately small, erect or suberect shrub, to 30 cm tall, stems gracile, fastigiate to sprawling. Branching mainly sympodial with some diffuse lateral. Branchlets moderately densely covered by short to long, greyish-white hair. Internodes 0.5–1.2 mm long. Node buttresses 0.1–0.8 mm, brown, lunate to slightly elongate, usually visible on young branchlets but not prominent on leafless stems. Older stems glabrate, grey or grey-brown. Leaves decussate, ascendant to patent, on 0.2–0.5 mm red petioles. Lamina thin, pliable, with a thickened margin, elliptic to ovate, 4.0–5.5 × 1.5–2.2 mm, pale green or glaucous, keeled and adaxially concave (dry leaf margins are often curled inward), midvein not plainly evident abaxially, obtuse or acute, base cuneate. Stomata abundant on adaxial and abaxial sides. Inflorescences terminal on branchlets, 3–5-flowered. Involucral bracts 4, broader than adjacent leaves (4 × 3 mm), partly hiding the flowers. Receptacles sparsely hairy, pedicels 0.3 mm. Plants gynodioecious. Flowers white, opening in salverform fashion, sparsely covered in short hair outside, inside hairy in upper tube and sparsely so in ovary portion. Female tube 3 mm long, ovary portion wrinkled, 2.4 mm long, calyx lobes 1.5 × 1.3 mm. Hermaphrodite tube 4 mm long, ovary portion 1.5 mm, calyx lobes 1.8 × 1.5 mm. Anther dehiscence semi-latrorse. Ovary with sparse hairs on summit and a few short hairs below that. Fruits sub-globose to oblate, fleshy, white, translucent, 5 × 4 mm. Seeds ovoid 2.1 × 1.7 mm, thin crest.

Similar taxa

Pimelea xenica is part of the P. prostrata complex,. Within that complex it is morphologically most similar to P. orthia and P. actea, species with which it shares an erect to suberect growth habitat and pliable leaves with stomata present on both adaxial and abaxial surfaces. It differs from P. orthia by its suberect growth habit and over all shorter stature (up to 400 mm tall) and spreading branches. Pimelea xenica differs from P. actea by its suberect, sprawling habit, more frequent branching and flat leaves which are tightly curled when dry. Pimelea actea is a sparingly branched (whip-like) erect shrublet with flat flat leaves. It is endemic to the Wanganui - Manawatu coast where it grows (or used to grow) in sandy habitats on skeletal or recent soils. Pimelea xenica is confined to heathland, gumland, grassland on heavily leached or weather mature soils; it is endemic to the northern North Island, extending as far south as the Hawke’s Bay.

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (North Auckland (scattered sites from Cape Reinga and North Cape south to Anawhata), South Auckland (Coromandel Peninsula), eastern Bay of Plenty, near East Cape, and near Tangoio, Hawke’s Bay).

Habitat

Mainly coastal or near-coastal but sometimes further inland. A species of low heathland where it grows on open clay pans or within short shrubland dominated by Leptospermum scoparium, Leucopogon fasciculatus, Ozothamnus leptophyllus, Machaerina spp., Phormium cookianum, and Veronica spp. Also found on grassy slopes, open eroding banks on bare soil, and on rock outcrops.

Current conservation status

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2023 | Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable | Qualifiers: Sp, DPR, DPS, DPT

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Threats

Burrows (2009) notes that one population near Cape Reinga was recently destroyed due to road works. However, he affirms that this species is poorly known. It was assessed in 2012 as ‘At Risk – Declining’ (de Lange et al. 2013) but that was amended in 2017 to ‘Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable’ (de Lange et al. 2018) after the available data was reconsidered.

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Thymelaeaceae

Authority

Pimelea xenica C.J.Burrows

Synonyms

None (first described in 2009)

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

September–April

Fruiting

November–June

Propagation technique

Easily grown from semi-hardwood cuttings and rooted pieces. Seed is difficult to germinate. Best grown in a well drained soil in full sun. An excellent plant for the rockery.

Other information

Etymology

pimelea: Pimeleoides means “resembling Pimelea’’, a genus in the family Thymelaeaceae (Greek, -oides = resembling, like).

Chromosome number

2n = 36

Previous conservation statuses

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable | Qualifiers: DP, Sp

2012 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: DP, Sp

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Jump to current conservation status

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Burrows CJ. 2009. Genus Pimelea (Thymelaeaceae) in New Zealand 2. The endemic Pimelea prostrata and Pimelea urvilliana species complexes. New Zealand Journal of Botany 47(2): 163–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288250909509804.

Attribution

Factsheet prepared by Peter de Lange with description from: Burrows (2009).

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Pimelea xenica Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/pimelea-xenica/ (Date website was queried)

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