Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica stricta Banks et Sol. ex Benth. in DC. Prodr. 10, 1846, 459.

Woody shrub us. diffusely branched, procumbent to 2-3-(4) m. tall. Branchlets glab. to finely pubescent, length of internodes us. much > diam. Lvs spreading to deflexed, oblong- to linear-lanceolate; lf-bud without sinus; lamina entire or sts minutely and remotely denticulate, glab. except for fine, sts almost microscopic, pubescence on margins and on one or both surfaces of midrib. Infls lateral, simple, us. > lvs, peduncle pubescent. Fls white or pale bluish, pedicellate, bracts small. Calyx-lobes narrow, obtuse to subacute. Corolla c. 6 mm. long, tube > calyx, narrow, cylindric, > rounded lobes. Capsule us. < 5 mm. long, c. 2 × calyx.

Here are grouped most of the North Id plants previously included in H. salicifolia, as well as those traditionally called H. macroura. Forster's description of V. salicifolia is meagre ("racemis lateralibus nutantibus, caule fruticoso, foliis longo-lanceolatis integerrimis"), but Forster specimens in BM and K match the purely South Id plant here treated as H. salicifolia sens. strict. which is what the Forsters would be likely to collect in Dusky Sound. Banks and Solander in Primitiae Florae Novae Zelandiae gave the manuscript name "salicifolia" to a plant from "prope Teonerva [Poverty Bay], Tolaga, Tigadu"; from the description (calyx-lobes shaggy with short hairs, capsule ovate, rather acute) and from Parkinson's drawing it is clear that they had in hand plants differing greatly from the Forster specimens but certainly belonging in the same complex as Bentham's macroura and stricta. Within this complex plants are not easily placed in clearly defined groups but it seems useful to draw attention to some regional differences. FL. 1-7.