Pimelea prostrata (J. R. & G. Forst.) Willd.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Pimelea prostrata' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pimelea/pimelea-prostrata/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Banksia prostrata J. R. & G. Forst.
  • Pimelea laevigata Gaertn.
  • P. coarctata Hort.

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    perianth
    Calyx and corolla. Term used especially when petals and sepals are not easily distinguished from each other.
    deflexed
    Bent or turned downwards.
    hermaphrodite
    Having both male and female parts in a single flower; bisexual.
    perfect
    (botanical) All parts present and functional. Usually referring to both androecium and gynoecium of a flower.
    prostrate
    Lying flat.
    sessile
    Lacking a stem or stalk.
    staminate
    Male referring to male plants (dioecy) or flowers (monoecy) or the male parts of a hermaphrodite flower.
    unisexual
    Having only male or female organs in a flower.
    variety
    (var.) Taxonomic rank (varietas) grouping variants of a species with relatively minor differentiation in a few characters but occurring as recognisable populations. Often loosely used for rare minor variants more usefully ranked as forms.

    References

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    Credits

    Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

    Recommended citation
    'Pimelea prostrata' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/pimelea/pimelea-prostrata/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

    A dwarf shrub of variable habit, with the main branches prostrate and mat-forming, or semi-erect, or tortuous and congested; bark dark brown ageing to grey or almost black; branchlets covered with short down or sometimes with longer, spreading hairs. Leaves opposite, rather closely spaced, more or less four-ranked, spreading or deflexed, sometimes very crowded and overlapping, 18 to 14 in. long, one-third to one-half as wide, variable in shape, sessile or almost so, rather leathery, more or less concave beneath, the upper surface dull green, sometimes grey-green, the margins often tinged with red. Flowers perfect or unisexual, white, fragrant, clustered at the tips of the short side branches. Perianth-tube swollen at the base, hairy on the outside, 116 to 18 in. long, the female flowers rather smaller than the staminate and perfect ones. Fruits fleshy, or sometimes dry, usually white, about 112 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 9010.

    Native of both islands of New Zealand, where it occurs in a variety of open habitats from the coast up to about 4,500 ft. Although not completely hardy, it is of easy cultivation in the rock garden, in a sunny position, but prefers a deep, cool root-run. The fragrant flowers, though individually inconspicuous, are borne in great profusion in summer, and the small fruits, like grains of rice, are produced by hermaphrodite plants. It is, in the wild, a species of the greatest complexity; for a discussion of its variations see Flora of New Zealand, Vol. 1 (1961), pp. 295–6.

    P. prostrata received an Award of Merit in 1955 and again in 1965, the second award being to a form known in gardens as P. coarctata or P. prostrata var. coarctata (Bull. A.G.S., Vol. 23 (1955), p. 367 and Vol. 33 (1965), p. 354).