The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Pimelea nitens subsp. aspera

Etymology

Pimelea: from the Greek pimele, referring to the seeds
aspera: From the Latin asper 'rough', meaning rough or covered with hard short rigid points

Common Name(s)

Pimelea

Current Conservation Status

2012 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Data Deficient

Qualifiers

2012 - RR, Sp

Authority

Pimelea nitens subsp. aspera C.J.Burrows et Courtney

Family

Thymelaeaceae

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.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

None (first described in 2011)

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.

Features

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.

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

This page last updated on 7 Nov 2013