Pimelea sericeovillosa Hook.f.

A small, much-branched, loose or compact shrublet, to 5 cm high and 25 cm in diameter, with brown, densely villous young branchlets. Internode length 0.3–0.6 mm. Branching mainly sympodial and radiating from a stout main stem up to 1.5 cm in diameter. Older, leafless stems glabrous, dark brown to black, often partly buried by windblown silt or sand. Node buttresses lunate, dark brown, masked by hairs on young stems, not prominent on leafless branchlets. Leaves decussate, ascending, imbricate, sessile or with very short petioles (0.2 mm). Lamina medium to pale green, elliptic to oblong, 2.2–4×1–1.3 mm, adaxially concave, mid-vein not evident, abaxial surface very densely covered with curled or straight, white, greyish-white or yellowish, moderately long hairs; adaxial surface less densely hairy, sometimes glabrate (the youngest leaves have more or less dense adaxial vesture), obtuse, base cuneate, stomata on both adaxial and abaxial surfaces. Inflorescences terminal, with 1 or 2, sometimes 3, flowers. Involucral bracts 4, the same size as, or slightly wider than adjacent leaves (2.3×1.5 mm). Receptacle usually with abundant long hairs. Plants gynodioecious. Flowers white, on very short (0.1 mm) pedicels, very hairy outside, inside hairless. ♀ tube 2.5 mm long, ovary portion 2 mm, calyx lobes 1–1.2×0.5 mm; tube 3–4 mm long, ovary portion 2 mm, calyx lobes 1.5×0.8–1 mm. Anther dehiscence introrse. Ovary with dense short hairs on summit, less dense to half way down. Fruits ovoid, fleshy, yellow to pale orange 2.5–3×1.8–2 mm, seeds narrow-ovoid 2–2.2×1–1.3 mm. Flowering spring–summer.

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

Flowering: Sep.–Feb.; Fruiting: Sep.–Feb.