Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica tetragona Hook. Ic. Pl. 1843, t. 580.

Type locality: Mt. Tongariro. Type: K, Bidwill.

Erect, much-branched rather rigid shrub to c. 1 m. tall. Branchlets 2-3 mm. diam., us. markedly tetragonous, yellow-green; internodes 0.75-1·5 mm. long, entirely hidden, lf-tips us. strongly overlapping; nodal joint well-marked. Lvs 2-3·5 mm. long, shortly connate, deltoid to subulate, very thick, shallowly concavo-convex, narrowed into short or elongated, keeled, bluntly pointed tip, thickened and flat inside at extreme apex. Spikes up to c. 12-fld. Bracts 3-3·5 × 2-2.5 mm., ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, ribbed. Calyx 2.5-3 mm. long, anterior lobes ovate-oblong, obtuse or subacute, ribbed, free for c. ⅔ length. Corolla-tube < calyx. Capsule c. 3 × 2 mm., oval, obtuse or subacute, > calyx.

DIST.: N. Mt. Hikurangi, Volcanic Plateau, Kaimanawa and Kaweka Ranges to N.W. Ruahine Range. Subalpine scrub and tussock.

Variation in closeness of imbrication, degree of appression and length of tip of the lvs results in striking differences between individual specimens. The exact southern limit of distribution in the Ruahine Range, where it is replaced by H. subsimilis, is not known.

Podocarpus ? dieffenbachii Hook. Ic. Pl. 1843, t. 547, based on non-flowering material sent to Hooker by Dieffenbach, is generally assumed to be this sp. but if so the locality given (Queen Charlotte Sound) must be an error. Dieffenbach also collected on North Id mountains.