''Pimelea villosa'', also known as ''Pimelea arenaria'', or sand daphne is a species of shrub in the family

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Website, St. Louis. It ...

, known in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

as autetaranga or autetauranga. It is endemic to

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 ...

. Its conservation status puts it at risk and declining, as determined by the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). The bark of the tree was occasionally used as traditional textiles such as ribbons or ear ornaments, however was not as commonly used as the paper mulberry (aute) or ''

Hoheria populnea ''Hoheria populnea'', commonly known as New Zealand mallow, lacebark or houhere, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, endemic to New Zealand. ''Hoheria populnea'' is found from the coast to lowland forests, and has a natural ...

'' (houhere).

Description

''Pimelea villosa'' is a sprawling shrub with hairy branches. It is found almost exclusively on sand dunes and associated areas. It possesses pointed leaves that are 5 to 15 mm long and 3 to 7mm wide. It also has white flowers and black, red, pink or white fruit.It is classified as at risk or declining there is only one natural place it remains, at Otaki beach where around 20 plants naturally remain.

Nomenclature

This plant was for many years known as ''Pimelea arenaria'', a name published by Allan Cunningham in 1833. However, in 2009 it was pointed out by Burrows that ''Pimelea villosa'', a name proposed by Daniel Solander but not published by him, had been effectively published by

James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to: * James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society * James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer * James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto * ...

in 1814, and thus has priority. In the same paper, Burrows proposed to divide ''P. villosa'' into two subspecies, ''P. villosa'' subsp. ''villosa'' and ''P. villosa'' subsp. ''arenaria'', basing the latter on Cunningham's specimens. This division remains controversial and is not accepted by some authorities. The name ''P. villosa'' was also applied illegitimately by some nineteenth century authors to an Australian plant, '' Pimelea longiflora''.

References

villosa ''Villosa'' is a genus of freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve molluscs in the family Unionidae The Unionidae are a family of freshwater mussels, the largest in the order Unionida, the bivalve molluscs sometimes known as river mussels, or simp ...

Flora of New Zealand {{Australia-rosid-stub