Pimelea Revision Treats Pimelea Prostrata Complex
The new revision - which at long last clarifies the status of Pimelea prostrata and P. urvilleana (not as the paper states P. urvilliana - note spelling) - has just been published by Dr Colin Burrows in the June issue of the New Zealand Journal of Botany.Burrows (2009) recognises 12 taxa, five new species, and eight subspecies in P. prostrata and P. urvilleana. Full fact sheets have been prepared for the new species and seven of the eight subspecies (the eighth P. orthia subsp. protea seems doubtfully distinct from the range of natural variation seen in P. orthia and so is for the time being included by the NZPCN in P. orthia).
The treatments offered by Burrows (2009) are a vast improvement on those available in Flora I. Not only does Burrows (2009) clarify some long standing ambiguities but he also offers many useful comments on the conservation status of the taxa he recognises. Already many botanists have been working through the paper and out in the field looking at Pimelea. It is also clear that the paper will provide a very useful base line for further work on the genus using modern molecular and cytological techniques, which seems necessary, especially to critically investigate the claims of widespread hybridism and taxa delimitation offered by Burrows (2009).
Reference
Burrows, C.J. 2009: Genus Pimelea (Thymelaeaceae) in New Zealand 2. The endemic Pimelea prostrata and Pimelea urvilliana species complexes. New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 163–229.
Peter J. de Lange
Posted: 22/07/2009