Citation: W. Oliver, Rec. Domin. Mus. 1:229 (1944).

Derivation: Greek para, near; Hebe, a closely allied genus named after the Greek goddess of youth.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: None

Description:
Erect, ascending or (in New Zealand) prostrate, semiwoody subshrubs; leaves opposite, toothed or entire.

Flowers alternate, in axillary racemes; sepals 4, sometimes (outside S.Aust.) with a reduced fifth lobe, free or fused at the base; corolla with a short tube and 4, rarely (outside S.Aust.) 5 spreading lobes; stamens 2; style long, with a minute stigma.

Capsule compressed laterally, sometimes greatly, obtuse to emarginate, dehiscing (in Australian species) septicidally and less deeply loculicidally, with the septum narrow.

Distribution:  About 20 species in New Zealand, Australia and New Guinea.

Biology: No text

Key to Species:

1. Leaves linear to ovate-linear, 0.5-5 mm wide, entire or sparsely serrate; pedicels longer than the bracts in flower, 7-15 mm long in fruit; sepals free to the base: corolla lobes obtuse to rounded; capsule emarginate, broader than long, with a persistent style	P. decorosa 1.
1. Leaves ovate, 12-40 mm wide, conspicuously serrate; pedicels shorter than the bracts in flower, 3-7 mm long in fruit; sepals fused in the basal quarter; corolla lobes acute; capsule in lateral view obtuse, narrower than long, with a deciduous style	P. derwentiana 2.

Author: Not yet available