Flora of New Zealand Series

H. buxifolia var. pauciramosa Ckn. et Allan in T.N.Z.I. 56, 1926, 27.

Type locality: Upper Routeburn Valley. Lectotype: W, 5354, "Wet ground up to Lake Harris, 4000 ft. or less, L. Cockayne No. 8129, 7.5.21".

Shrub of open habit, with little-branched, straight erect stems to 50 cm. tall, sts ± prostrate at base, lfy only in their upper portions. Branchlets bifariously pubescent, smoother than in H. odora; length of internodes c. = diam. Lvs imbricate to patent, c. 6-8 × 4-6 mm., very broadly oblong to almost square, very coriac., undersurface not duller than upper, both with ∞ large stomata; lf-bud with broad heart-shaped sinus, lamina-base abruptly truncate, the petiole narrow above its broad junction with stem; lamina obtuse, concave, glab. except for minute caducous cilia on upper part of entire roundly thickened margin; midrib obvious on undersurface only. Infls simple, to 2 cm. long; peduncle short and hidden by lvs, bearing scattered short hairs. Fls crowded, sessile in strictly opp. pairs. Bracts broad, ± keeled, glab. except for marginal cilia. Calyx-lobes ciliolate. Corolla-tube < 2 × calyx. Capsule erect, glab.

Keel of lf characteristically flattened just below tip. Infls us. all lateral, stem-apex continuing to grow, often with old infls long persistent some distance down. Bracts rather acutely triangular, ciliolate only towards base, c. 2-3 mm. long and distinctly < calyx. Calyx-lobes c. 3-4 mm. long, the anterior two us. fused except at emarginate tip, sts splitting secondarily as fr. ripens. Corolla-tube cylindric, > calyx, lobes to 5 mm. long, ovate. Capsule rather narrow-oblong, not greatly compressed, to 2 × calyx.

DIST.: S. Widely distributed in wet ground in mountains of Canterbury, Otago and Southland.

FL. 10-1.

Var. pauciramosa.

In W a Petrie label "Mt. Egmont, 4000 ft, D.P., 6:2:1901" is attached to a specimen of this kind, and in Herb. Kirk is one similar specimen with label "Veronica buxifolia, Benth.  V. odora, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 62, t. 41. Port Ross, Jan. 10. 1891"; no other records are known from either North Id or Auckland Id.

Frankel and Hair (N.Z. J. Sci. Tech. 18, 1937, 672) record chromosome number n = 21 for pauciramosa, n = 42 for odora from Arthur Pass. Var. pauciramosa appears to be more abundant at higher levels but in the bog at the pass itself and probably elsewhere the two meet. This is one of the few localities from which odora -like specimens have been seen with obvious stomata on the upper lf-surface.