Pimelea mimosa C.J.Burrows

Procumbent to decumbent medium-sized shrubs to 25 cm high, with stems to 50 cm long. Branching mainly sympodial. Young branchlets brown, densely covered by moderately long, white hairs. Internodes 2–6 mm long; older stems glabrate, brown to grey–brown. Node buttresses short (0.2 mm), lunate, masked by hairs on young branchlets, not prominent on leafless stems. Leaves decussate, on short petioles (0.5–1 mm), ascending at first, soon becoming patent or deflexed, persistent. They may appear to be distichous on appressed branches. Lamina to 9–20×2.5–5 mm, varying in width from plant to plant, medium green, adaxially concave or slightly keeled, elliptic to narrow–elliptic, acute, base cuneate; both surfaces of young leaves uniformly densely covered by short, glistening, white, appressed hairs. Mid-vein usually not evident. Older leaves become glabrate and appear dull-green. Stomata on both surfaces. Inflorescences terminal, 2–7 flowered, compact. Involucral bracts 4, the same size as, or slightly wider than, adjacent leaves (9–12×4–6 mm) partly hiding the flowers. Receptacle densely covered in short hairs. Plants gynodioecious. Flowers white, on short (0.5 mm) pedicels, densely hairy outside, inside hairless. ♀ tube 4 mm long, ovary portion 3 mm, calyx lobes 2×1.2 mm; tube 6 mm long, ovary portion 2 mm, calyx lobes 2.5×2 mm. Anther dehiscence introrse. Ovary sparsely hairy at summit. Fruits ovoid, fleshy, red, 5–6×3.5–4 mm. Seeds narrow–ovoid, 3.2×2 mm, crest thin. Flowering summer–autumn–winter.

[Reproduced from Burrows (2011, New Zealand J. Bot. 49: 367–412) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]