Pimelea pygmaea



Pimelea pygmaea is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is prostrate, cushion-like undershrub with narrowly oblong to elliptic leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and white flowers arranged singly on the ends of the many branches.

Description
Pimelea pygmaea is a prostrate, cushion-like undershrub that typically grows to a height of 2–10 cm and has many branches and hairy young stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, narrowly oblong to elliptic, 1.5–4 mm long, 1–2 mm wide and sessile. The flowers are white, female or bisexual and arranged singly on the ends of branches on a hairy pedicel. Bisexual flowers have a floral tube 2.2–3.0 mm long and sepals up to 2 mm long, and female flowers have a floral tube 1.5–1.7 mm long and sepals 1.2–1.4 mm long. Flowering occurs from September to December.

Taxonomy
Pimelea pygmaea was first formally described in 1854 by Carl Meissner in the journal Linnaea, from an unpublished description by Ferdinand von Mueller and Charles Stuart. The specific epithet (pygmaea) means "dwarf".

Distribution and habitat
This pimelea grows in alpine and subalpine moorland at altitudes above 1000 m on the Central Plateau Conservation Area in Tasmania.