Hebe odora (Hook.f.) Cockayne
Veronica odora Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 1, 1844, 62, t. 41.
Type locality: "Lord Auckland's Group". Type: K, J. D. Hooker, 1460.
Shrubs of various habit, to 1·5 m. or more tall. Branchlets bifariously pubescent, length of internodes c. = diam. Lvs imbricate, patent, or ± distichous through twisting of some petioles, 1-2-(3) cm. long, us. rather uniform on one plant, elliptic-ovate, coriac. and rigid to submembr., upper surface glossy, undersurface dull with ∞ stomata; lf-bud with broad heart-shaped sinus, lamina-base rounded, petiole narrow above its broad ± pulvinate base; lamina subacute, ± concave, quite glab., entire, the margin bevelled, or milled like a coin, sts (as in type) also thickly cartilaginous and minutely crenulate; midrib sts forming keel. Infl. us. composed of 1-2 pairs of lateral spikes surmounted by a terminal one, and then forming a conical mass of crowded fls at the branch-tip; often simpler and sts reduced to only one spike, either terminal or occ. lateral; peduncles very short and hidden, bifariously pubescent. Fls sessile in strictly opp. pairs. Bracts broadly triangular, ± keeled, the lowest ones on each spike with lf-like texture except at membr. ciliolate margin, = calyx. Calyx-lobes 3-5 mm. long, subcoriac., ± keeled, ciliolate, the anterior two subacute, overlapping and slightly > posterior pair. Corolla-tube narrow-cylindric, = or > calyx, lobes = or > tube, us. rather narrow. Capsule erect, glab., to 2 × calyx.
DIST.: N., S., St., A. Common, us. in wet ground, on mountains.
FL. (10)-11-3-(4).
H. buxifolia (Benth.) Ckn. et Allan in T.N.Z.I. 57, 1926, 32. Veronica buxifolia Benth. in DC. Prodr. 10, 1846, 462. Type: K, "Mounts of Intr., N. Island, N. Zealand, Dieffenbach". By Bentham's description this differs from H. odora (Hooker's type of which he also saw in Herb. Hooker) in: (1) smaller lvs-3-5 lin. against 6-9 lin.; (2) quite entire lf-margin against minutely crenulate one; (3) very obtuse calyx-lobes against rather obtuse; (4) larger corolla-lobes = tube against > tube. Of these differences that in lf-margin seems to be the only constant distinction between North Id and Auckland Id plants; in South Id all intermediates between the two extremes can be seen. No reliable criteria for separating the two spp. have been found, though Frankel and Hair (N.Z. J. Sci. Tech. 18, 1937, 685) in a chromosome count of a single North Id plant found n = 21, compared with n = 42 in South Id plants from a wide range of localities.
V. buxifolia var. patens Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 523 was described thus: "Leaves spreading. Spikes more numerous. Flowers rather larger. Plentiful from Nelson to Foveaux Strait". Lectotype: A, 8076, Mt. Arthur Plateau, Nelson, alt. 4000 ft, T. F. Cheeseman. Specimens labelled var. patens by Cheeseman cover most of the range of form of H. odora in South Id and include also a Stewart Id specimen (A 8081) on which many but not all of the lvs have the same sort of crenulate margin as is seen in Auckland Id plants. The choice of lectotype is influenced by the fact that Cheeseman distributed a part of this gathering labelled var. patens (W 5359).
H. anomala (J. F. Armst.) Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 60, 1929, 468. Veronica anomala J. F. Armst. in T.N.Z.I. 4, 1872, 291 (redescribed by J. B. Armstrong in T.N.Z.I. 13, 1881, 355 as sp. nov.). Type locality: "Head waters of the River Rakaia". Type: CM, Herb. Armstrong, "Upper Rakaia, 1865, J. F. A." The type specimen is very poorly preserved but sufficient remains to match it very precisely with two other specimens in Herb. Armstrong, one with no label, the other "Rangitata, 3-5000 ft., J. F. A." These all have lvs of the odora kind though with rather thin margins and cuneate rather than truncate bases; infls are terminal and simple lateral spikes and specimens on all three sheets are peculiar in having the anterior two calyx-lobes fused, so matching J. B. Armstrong's description "calyx lobes 3". Corolla-tubes are > calyx and in the only remaining dissectable fls (on a Rangitata specimen) corolla-lobes are 4 not 3 as stated in the description. This is very similar, except for the fused calyx-lobes, to the common form of H. odora of mid-Canterbury.
V. haustrata J. B. Armst. in N.Z. Ctry J. 3, 1879, 58. Original record: "Southern Alps, common, J. F. A. and J. B. A." Type: CM, Herb. Armstrong, "Upper Rangitata, 4000 ft, J. F. A. 1869. Veronica odora Hk. f., V. haustrata Armstrong". The name haustrata, which Armstrong omitted from his 1881 list, belongs within the odora complex. Though slightly stouter, the type matches that of V. anomala vegetatively; the calyces have four lobes but some infls are peculiar in having the lowest lateral spikes tripartitely branched. An Armstrong specimen labelled "Veronica anomala, Rakaia Valley, J. B. A." matches the type of V. haustrata in this respect, as does also the plant figured as V. anomala by Hooker f. in Bot. Mag. 1894, t. 7360. No other specimens have been seen with such a complex infl.
Cockayne from 1901 (T.N.Z.I. 33, 285) onwards repeatedly mentioned the diversity in habit and habitat of plants variously referred to V. odora and V. buxifolia. In 1926 Cockayne and Allan (T.N.Z.I. 56, 27) described the erect sparsely branched var. pauciramosa here treated as a separate sp. They recognized also two other forms: (a) one of dense ball-like habit referred to in Cockayne's ecological works as H. buxifolia var. odora and considered by them to be identical with var. patens Cheesem.; (b) a prostrate form of boggy subalpine meadow on Mt. Anglem listed, but not formally described, as var. prostrata Ckn. in Rep. bot. Surv. St. Id, 1909, 44. No Cockayne specimens labelled var. prostrata have been seen, but some Stewart Id plants do retain a prostrate habit in cultivation.
A very robust form of H. odora occurs in Fiordland; lvs are up to 20-25 × 6 mm., very coriac., with minutely crenulate margins; infls mostly or all lateral (an occ. one tripartitely branched); fls large with rather short corolla-tube. Simpson and Thomson (T.R.S.N.Z. 72, 1942, 26) give a detailed description of this plant for which they use the name H. menziesii (Benth.). Ckn. et Allan though it differs from Bentham's description both in infl.-type and in capsule. Somewhat similar but even larger-lvd specimens come from N. W. Nelson, and these characteristically dry very black.
Despite the wide range of form displayed by the plants included in this sp. all share a rather large number of distinctive common characters.
