Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica benthami Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 1, 1844, 60, t. 39, 40.

V. finaustrina Homb. et Jacq. in Voy. Pôle Sud 1853, t. 9, fig. y.

Type locality: "Lord Auckland's Isd". Type: K, J. D. H., Nov. 1840.

Stout woody shrub 15 cm. to 1 m. tall, the branches c. 5 mm. diam., closely lfy towards tips. Branchlets with wide bifarious pubescent bands to almost glab., length of internodes us. < diam. except in sheltered places. Lvs ± deflexed, coriac., varying in size, toothing and shape on one stem and also according to habitat, e.g. in garden 5 cm. × 13 mm., narrow elliptic-oblong, on mountain 1·5-2 cm. × 7-9 mm., obovate-spathulate; bases broad and shortly connate, lf-bud without sinus; lamina ± bluntly toothed, sts entire, tip obtuse to quite flat; margin rounded and conspicuously white with tangled soft hairs, shorter hairs us. scattered over upper surface when young. Infl. a terminal lfy raceme, us. simple, at first short with fls very crowded, to 10 cm. long in fr. Bracts opp., decussate and lflike, gradually diminishing in size upwards and becoming entire; pedicels to 6 mm. long. Calyx-lobes to 8 × 4 mm., often unequal, spathulate, obtuse, edged with white pubescence, clefts between lobes sts wide. Corolla "fine bright blue", tube < calyx, lobes obovate-spathulate, of unequal widths, to 10 × 5 mm. Lobes of calyx and corolla often 5 or 6. Capsule erect, to 8 × 4 mm., pointed, glab., with wide septum, compressed dorsally except when, as not infrequently happens, there are three loculi and the capsule is ± globular.

DIST.: A., C. Common in rocky places.

FL. (10)-12-1-(5).