Euphrasia monroi Hook.f.
Type locality: Dun Mountain. Type: K, Monro.
Densely branched perennial herb or subshrub arising from stout woody stock up to 4 mm. diam.; stems stout, woody in lower parts, not or hardly rooting, crowded, sts branched in upper parts, us. naked below and densely lfy at tips, bifariously white-pubescent. Lvs sessile, us. Close-set, spreading, 5-10 × 3-6 mm., obovate to obovate-cuneate with 1-2 pairs of us. shallow incisions near broad obtuse apex, glab., very cartilaginous and us. blackish when dry with glossy thickened margins. Fls us. few in tight cluster at tips of branches, pedicels up to 4 mm. long, us. hidden; occ. infl. more elongated. Calyx 6-8 mm. long, glab. or nearly so, ± unevenly divided ?-1/2 way; lobes obtuse with thickened margins and midribs. Corolla white, 10-15 mm. long; tube us. much > calyx and rather narrow; lobes of lower lip up to 6 mm. wide, shallowly emarginate. Anthers golden brown to red-brown, marginal hairs ∞, awns stout, almost equal. Capsule ± = calyx or occ. exceeding it, broadly oblong, glab.; seeds ∞, c. 2 mm. long.
DIST.: S. Mountains of Nelson and Marlborough to c. lat. 42° 30'.
FL. 10-2. FT. 12-3.
Hooker included plants from "Southern Alps, Sinclair and Haast" in his original conception of E. monroi, but these are now referred to E. laingii Petrie. The two spp. are closely related but the typical form of E. monroi is a much stouter, woodier plant with more close-set, thickly cartilaginous lvs and short congested infls. Plants from Mt. Stokes us. referred to E. monroi are not quite typical, but us. have smaller lvs and sts elongated infls.
