is specially the case with P. virgata, P. lævigata, P. Urvilleana, and P. Lyallii, the numerous forms of which require a careful study in the field before their proper position can be determined.
The flowers of Pimelea are usually described as hermaphrodite. But all the New Zealand species are functionally diœcious, or occasionally polygamo-diœcious. The male flowers are the most numerous and the most conspicuous. The stamens have long slender filaments, so that the anthers either reach the top of the perianth-lobes or are slightly exserted; and the style with its comparatively small stigma is always included within the perianth. I have never seen fruit in this form, and believe that the pistil is quite functionless. The female flowers are smaller, often swollen at the base, although narrower above. The anthers are small, almost sessile, and are usually devoid of pollen. The ovary is large, with a short style and large capitate stigma, which is conspicuously exserted when the flower is mature. Pollen is sometimes present in this form, but in the majority of cases the flowers are strictly female.
| A. Erect shrubs. Branches and leaves usually glabrous. | |
| Leaves 1–3 in., broad or narrow lanceolate, flat. Flowers ½ in. long | 1. P. longifolia. |
| Leaves ⅓–¾ in., oblong or linear-oblong, often keeled. Flowers ⅓–½ in. | 2. P. Gnidia. |
| Leaves ⅙–⅓ in., oblong or obovate-oblong, obtuse. Flowers ¼–⅓ in. | 3. P. Traversii. |
| B. Erect or rarely procumbent shrubs. Branches pubescent or villous with silky hairs. | |
| Leaves ¼–⅓ in., quadrifariously imbricate, oblong or elliptic, keeled, glabrous; floral often larger | 4. P. buxifolia. |
| Leaves ½–1 in., not imbricate, linear-lanceolate, flat, silky beneath | 5. P. virgata. |
| Leaves ¾–1½ in., in distant pairs, broadly lanceolate, silky beneath | 6. P. Haastii. |
| Leaves ¼–½ in., opposite and decussate, oblong or elliptic, under-surface clothed with appressed white silky hairs | 7. P. arenaria. |
| C. Prostrate or procumbent or rarely erect shrubs. Branches pubescent or villous with silky hairs. | |
| Branches grey, pubescent or villous or glabrate. Leaves 110–13 in., linear-oblong to obovate-oblong, usually glabrous | 8. P. lævigata. |
| Branches with soft villous hairs. Leaves ⅙–¼ in., oblong, obtuse, glabrous | 9. P. Urvilleana. |
| Branches tortuous, sparingly silky. Leaves ⅓ in., narrow linear-lanceolate, surfaces glabrous, margins and apices ciliate | 10. P. Suteri. |
| Branches silky. Leaves ⅙–½ in., linear-oblong to elliptic-oblong, silky | 11. P. Lyallii. |
| Branches densely silky-villous. Leaves ⅛–¼ in., linear-oblong to elliptic-oblong, very densely silky-villous on both surfaces | 12. P.sericeo-villosa. |
P. polycephala, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 487, a small densely branched species with something of the appearance of a dwarf specimen of P. Traversii, differs from all the known New Zealand species in the coloured and membranous floral leaves. But the type specimen in Mr. Colenso's herbarium is a mere fragment in very bad condition, and until better specimens are obtained it is quite impossible to be sure of the relationships of the plant.
