Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica salicifolia Forst. f. Prodr. 1786, 3.

V. salicifolia var. communis Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 48, 1916, 201.

Hebe salicifolia var. communis (Ckn.) Ckn. et Allan in T.N.Z.I. 57, 1926, 17.

Type locality: "Nova-Zeelandia" (probably Dusky Sound). Type: K, Forster. Also recorded from the coast of Chile at about the same latitude.

Diffusely branched shrub to 5 m. tall. Branchlets pale green, glab., length of internodes 2-5-(8) × diam. Lvs suberect to spreading, 5-15 × 1-2.5 cm., long-lanceolate, submembr.; lf-bud with distinct sinus; lamina conspicuously narrowed towards apex and long-acuminate, glab. except for fine pubescence above and under midrib, on margins of young lvs and especially on expanded midrib of petiole; margins entire or minutely and remotely denticulate. Infls lateral, simple, > lvs and sts to 20 cm. long, peduncle us. 3-4 cm. Fls rather close but not hiding rhachis, pedicels c. 3 mm. long, = or > narrow ciliolate bracts. Calyx-lobes c. 2 mm. long, narrow, acute, ± keeled, ciliolate. Corolla white or very pale lilac-tinted, tube rather wide, shortest at the back and there little > calyx, lobes c. 3-4 mm. long, narrow-ovate and ± acute. Capsule ± pendent, to 3·5 × 2.5 mm., rounded, glab., < 2 × calyx.

DIST.: S., St. Widespread except near the coast in Marlborough Sounds.

FL. 1-2-(4).

Of his var. communis Cockayne says: "This is the ordinary form of V. salicifolia throughout the South Island, where it occurs as a tall or medium-sized much-branched shrub from sea-level to the subalpine belt and from the coast-line to the interior." The type of the var. is in CM "ex Herb. L. Cockayne, No. 8041. Scrub on bank of R. Kowai, Canterbury, L.C., 16/Feb. 1902" and A 7739 is an isotype; the type is a fruiting specimen and matches the Forster specimens well.

H. salicifolia var. paludosa (Ckn.) Ckn. et Allan in T.N.Z.I. 57, 1926, 18.  Veronica salicifolia var. paludosa Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 48, 1916, 202. Type locality: Swamps near Lake Ianthe, Westland. Type: A, 7776, L. Cockayne No. 8118 (apparently the same gathering numbered L.C. 7165 in other herbaria). This differs from H. salicifolia in narrower, more evenly tapered lvs and in fine pubescence on young stems, and in these features it resembles H. gracillima; it may be a hybrid between these two spp.