Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica acutiflora Benth. in DC. Prodr. 10, 1846, 460 non Lapeyr. ex Roem. et Schult. Syst. Veg. 1, 1817, 112.

Type: K, A. Cunningham No. 377 "Northn Isld, New Zealand, 1838".

Small, erect, sparingly branched shrub. Branchlets glab. to minutely pubescent, length of internodes several × diam. Lvs spreading, c. 4-8 cm. × 5-7 mm., linear-lanceolate, subcoriac.; lf-bud without sinus; lamina gradually tapering to narrow obtuse tip, entire, glab. except for minute hairs on margin and above midrib. Infls lateral, simple, us. > lvs, peduncle 1-2 cm. long. Bracts to 3 mm. long, linear, acute, pubescent, pedicel longer. Calyx-lobes c. 3 mm. long, very narrow and acute, pubescent. Corolla white or faintly lavender, tube broad, < calyx, lobes > tube, acute. Capsule c. 3 × 2.5 mm., broadly rounded, little > calyx.

DIST.: N. Known certainly only from the original locality "under the falls of Kerikeri".

FL. 1-4.

On one twig of the type lf-size ranges from 35 × 5 mm. to 75 × 7 mm. Similar plants have been collected repeatedly from the type locality for more than a century.