Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica parviflora Vahl in Symb. Bot. 3, 1794, 4.

Stems shrubby, the branches terete and glab. Lvs rather close, c. 2.5 cm. long, linear-lanceolate, stiff, smooth, glab., entire, the apex plicate-mucronate. Racemes in upper axils, c. 3·5 cm. long, with short terete peduncles. Pedicels short, opp., each with a minute bract at base. Calyx-lobes oblong, obtuse, glab., subciliate under the lens. Corolla-lobes obtuse. Style > corolla. Capsules oval, 2 × calyx.

DIST.: "Habitat in Nova Zelandia. Dedt Dr Dahl". Type ?

The above is a translation of Vahl's description to which may be added for the sp. in a broad sense: lf-bud without sinus; stomata ∞ especially on undersurface of lf; FL. 1-3. Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 796) says: "There is some little doubt as to the plant that Vahl described as V. parviflora but it is probably identical with the V. floribunda of Banks and Solander's manuscripts and the V. arborea of Buchanan. It is chiefly characterized by its large size-sometimes considerably over 25 ft.-small linear-lanceolate leaves, small dense racemes usually not much exceeding the leaves, and short and broad corolla-tube. In the Flora and in the Handbook it is united with V. angustifolia A. Rich., which I take to be quite distinct." Banks and Solander's description is of a broad-topped tree c. 20 feet tall from Totaranui, Admiralty Bay, V. arborea Buchan. is described as a tree 10-25 feet tall with a trunk to 3 feet diam. "perfectly dome-shaped when young" from the neighbourhood of Wellington and V. angustifolia A. Rich. as a branching shrub 2-3 feet tall from French Pass.

By no means all the trees attributed to this sp. have short racemes and lvs only 2.5 cm. long, and a plicate-mucronate lf-apex is not restricted to small lvs or to larger plants. Vahl mentions neither stature of plant nor length of corolla-tube and his description could equally well have been based on a tree or a shrub; the latter is more likely if the specimen came from South Id. No further information is available about his type, and this uncertainty affects the stability of all later names in the complex. The name H. angustifolia must in any case be rejected since it is based on the illegitimate V. angustifolia A. Rich.; if the shrubby Nelson plant is specifically distinct from H. parviflora Kirk's name squalida must be taken up as the earliest legitimate specific epithet.

H. parviflora sens. lat. includes not just two clear-cut taxa as Cheeseman implied but possibly four or five ± distinct entities. It seems useful to make here the necessary new combinations in Hebe so that two already published varietal names may be available for referring more precisely to at least some parts of this complex.