''Parietaria debilis'', commonly known as pellitory, small-flower pellitory, or native pellitory, is a herb native to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Description

It grows as an annual herb from 7 to 40 centimetres in height, with green or white flowers. Individual plants bear both perfect and

imperfect The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...

flowers.

Taxonomy

This species was published in 1786 by

Georg Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (, 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold F ...

, based on a type specimen collected in New Zealand. It has twice been moved to other genera—to ''

Urtica ''Urtica'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Urticaceae. Many species have stinging hairs and may be called nettles or stinging nettles, although the latter name applies particularly to ''Urtica dioica''. ''Urtica'' species are food f ...

'' by

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Bio ...

in 1833, and to '' Freirea'' by Alexander Viktorovich Jarmolenko in 1941—but neither move was accepted.

Distribution and habitat

It is native to Australia and New Zealand. In Australia it is widespread in temperate regions, occurring in every state and territory. It favours well-drained sites, especially in calcareous soils.

References

External links

* {{taxonbar , from=Q5239880 debilis Rosales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of New Zealand Flora of Korea