Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica breviracemosa W. R. B. Oliver in T.N.Z.I. 42, 1910, 170.

Type locality: Inland cliffs, landslip (Denham Bay), Sunday Id. Type: W, 5292, W. R. B. Oliver, 10/5/08.

Laxly branched shrub 1-2 m. tall. Branchlets green, finely pubescent, length of internodes 2-5 × diam. Lvs spreading, 5-11 × 2-3 cm. (sts smaller near infls), elliptic- to oblong-lanceolate, subcoriac.; lf-bud without sinus; lamina subacute, entire, glab. except for fine pubescence on margin and beneath midrib and on both surfaces near base. Infls lateral, simple, us. < lvs, peduncle 1-2 cm. long, pubescent. Fls crowded, pedicels 2-3 mm. long. Bracts c. 5 × 1 mm., narrow-acuminate, ciliolate. Calyx-lobes c. 4 × 1 mm., narrow-acuminate, ciliolate. Corolla white to pale lilac, tube c. 1·5 mm. long, lobes c. 3 mm. long, ovate, acute. Capsule erect, c. 5 × 2.5 mm., narrowly acute, glab.

DIST.: K. "This plant was formerly fairly plentiful but has been almost killed out by goats, and is now found only on cliffs and other places inaccessible to those animals" (W. R. B. Oliver as at 1908).

FL. ?