Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica poppelwellii Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 48, 1916, 200.

V. hectori var. gracilior Petrie ex Poppelwell in T.N.Z.I. 47, 1915, 140 nomen nudum.

Type locality: Mt. Tennyson, Garvie Mts. Type: W, L. Cockayne no. 8116, cultivated plant originally from Garvie Mts. An isotype at CM also has "type specimen" in Cockayne's hand.

Slender erect dwarf shrub forming tufts 5-15 cm. tall. Branchlets 1·5-2 mm. diam., ± tetragonous, glossy; internodes 0.75-1 mm. long, entirely hidden; nodal joint well-marked. Lvs 1-1·5 mm. long, connate up to ⅓ length, broadly deltoid, thick, subacute to acute, strongly ribbed, smoothly appressed. Spikes up to c. 15-fld, 5-15 mm. long. Bracts 2 mm. long, ovate, acute, strongly ribbed. Calyx c. 2 mm. long, anterior lobes ovate-oblong, obtuse, ribbed, free for ⅔ length or more. Corolla-tube > calyx. Capsule 2.5 × 2 mm., broad-oval, obtuse, slightly > calyx.

DIST.: S. Garvie Mts, Mt. Dick, Rock and Pillar Range, Mt. Benger.

The lvs were originally described as broadly triangular with subacute or obtuse apex. Cockayne and Allan (loc. cit.) formally emend this description to include as well plants with narrower, almost acuminate lvs. Specimens in herbaria (mostly from cultivated plants) seem to be of two kinds, Cockayne's type being among those differing from the rest in more slender, lighter-coloured branchlets with less closely-set, less strongly ribbed, more obtuse lvs and more elongated infls.

Small non-flowering specimens from the Douglas Stream near Arthur Pass (BD 56682, W. B. Brockie, 23.3.21) have mature branchlets with strongly ribbed, keeled, acute lvs almost indistinguishable from forms of H. poppelwellii, though H. lycopodioides is the common sp. of this area. The dwarf H. lycopodioides var. patula which occurs farther north differs from H. poppelwellii in more acute, less smoothly appressed and much less strongly ribbed lvs.