Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica barkeri Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 31, 1899, 421.

Type: A, 7663.

Stout erect upright-branching shrub. Branches terete, brownish purple, internodes c. 1 cm. long. Lvs patent, "pale apple-green", duller on undersurface, c. 5 cm. × 12 mm., lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, fleshy; lf-bud without sinus, the lf-base slightly > stem; lamina sub-acute, entire, one or both surfaces covered with extremely fine sparse pubescence when young. Infls lateral, simple, c. = lvs; peduncle pubescent, ± purple stained. Fls crowded, bracts subulate, acute, < pedicels. Calyx-lobes 3-3·5 mm. long, acute, ciliolate, the surface very finely pubescent like young lvs. Corolla-tube and obtuse lobes c. = calyx, style very pubescent. Capsule c. 5 × 4 mm., ovate, almost 2 × calyx.

DIST.: Ch. Original record: "Chatham Islands; S. D. Barker (1898)"

The type sheet has three twigs, all with racemes of old capsules. There are two labels, that of Cheeseman reading "Cultivated at Christchurch, plant originally from the Chatham Islands, L. Cockayne" and a small unsigned one of Cockayne "8048 Veronica Barkeri. Plant orig. from near Te Whanga, Chatham Island". The above description is drawn up from Cockayne's detailed diagnosis, supplemented by data on lf-bud and pubescence from the specimens, which agree well with Cockayne's account except that lvs are, somewhat shorter and almost obtuse and capsules are slightly smaller.

Hebe gigantea (Ckn.) Ckn. et Allan in T.N.Z.I. 57, 1926, 19.  Veronica gigantea Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 34, 1902, 319.  V. salicifolia var. gigantea (Ckn.) Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 504. Reported as an important constituent of both lowland and tableland forest on Chatham Id. Only one Cockayne specimen has been found, W 5294 "Juvenile leaves from plant growing in the moist Te Awatapu Forest, L. Cockayne, Jan. 1901"; there are two detached lvs measuring 14·5 × 4·5 cm. and 12 × 4 cm. respectively. The description is informal, dealing mainly with juvenile stages, and making comparisons with V. salicifolia (under which name the plant had previously been recorded), but not with H. barkeri. It is stated to be "always a low tree with distinct trunk"; the adult lvs are 8·3 × 1·8 cm., narrow-lanceolate, minutely ciliated, quite sessile, and with a midrib not nearly so much keeled as in V. salicifolia, the plant being intensely hairy when young.

Herbarium specimens labelled H. gigantea and the arborescent shrub grown under that name in gardens show many resemblances to the type of H. barkeri and indicate that the difference in lf-length from 4 to 8 cm. would not be unexpected even in one plant; the peculiar indumentum which gives a velvety texture to the lvs is a common character and perhaps only one sp. is involved.