''Pimelea urvilleana'' is a ground spreading shrub in the

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family (biology), family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Webs ...

family. There are two intraspecifics: ''Pimelea urvilleana'' subsp. ''nesica'', and ''Pimelea urvilleana'' subsp. ''urvilleana''.

Description

''Pimelea urvilleana'' subsp. ''urvilleana'' is a small prostrate shrub, with stout, flexible stems up to 30 cm long. The branchlets are covered with dense matted white hair. The older stems are grey brown and slightly hairy. The decussate leaves are usually distichous. and flat or slightly keeled. There are many stomata on the adaxial surface, but few to none on the abaxial surface. The tips are obtuse. The inflorescences have 5-7 white flowers, which are hairy on the outside. This subspecies has only been found in the Auckland region and is relatively rare. ''Pimelea urvilleana'' subsp. ''nesica'' differs in having paler and larger green leaves which are not keeled and less hairy branchlets, than subspecies ''urvilleana''. ''Pimelea urvilleana'' subsp. ''nesica'' is found in the islands east of Auckland and Coromandel.

Distribution

''Pimelea urvilleana'' is found in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, on the North Island and thought to be extinct on the South Island.

Taxonomy

It was first described in 1832 by

Achille Richard Achille Richard was a French botanist, botanical illustrator and physician (27 April 1794 in Paris – 5 October 1852). Biography Achille was the son of the botanist Louis Claude Richard, Louis-Claude Marie Richard (1754–1821). He was a p ...

, but was redescribed in 2009 by Colin James Burrows when the two subspecies were differentiated and ''P. urvilleana'' subsp. ''nesica'' was erected.

Conservation status

In both 2004 and 2008, the subspecies ''urvilleana'' was assessed as "Not Threatened", and in 2012 was declared "Data Defiicient" but the 2018 assessment declared it "Not Threatened". The subspecies ''nesica'' was declared "Not Threatened" in 2009 and 2012, but in 2018 was declared "Data Deficient" under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had s ...

References

External links

''Pimelea urvilleana'' occurrence data
from the

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgama ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17582263 urvilleana Flora of New Zealand Taxa named by Achille Richard Plants described in 1832