Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica dieffenbachii Benth. in DC. Prodr. 10, 1846, 459.

Type: K, "in ins. Chatham juxta Novam Zeelandiam" Dieffenbach.

Low-growing shrub with far-extending branches. Branchlets glab. to hoary, length of internodes c. 2-4 × diam. Lvs suberect to spreading, c. 5-9 × 2-3 cm., elliptic-oblong, thick, fleshy, pale green; lf-bud without sinus, the base broad and almost auriculate; lamina obtuse, entire with narrow cartilaginous border, us. glab. except for fine pubescence above midrib. Infls lateral, simple, little > lvs, peduncle much < flowering portion. Fls crowded, pedicellate, bracts small. Calyx-lobes ovate, acute, ciliolate. Corolla purplish to white, tube rather broad, > calyx, lobes c. = tube, rounded. Capsule ovoid, acute, glab. or with a few minute hairs, > 2 × calyx.

DIST.: Ch.

FL. 12-3.

Bentham apparently saw only one specimen, a twig with lvs 7·5 × 2.5 cm. bearing both fruiting and flowering racemes. Cockayne (T.N.Z.I. 34, 1902, 269) records H. dieffenbachii as characteristic of limestone cliffs and rocks of the great lagoon where the pliant branches spread laterally or hang downwards.

For Veronica dorrien-smithii Ckn. in Proc.N.Z.I. 44, 1912, 51 (Hebe dorrien-smithii (Ckn.) Ckn. et Allan in T.N.Z.I. 57, 1926, 14) the type quoted is "Herb. Cockayne No. 8003. Growing on peaty ground at margin of Lake Tekua Taupo, at an altitude of 240 m." and this number is represented by A 7660, W 5293, and in CM; but Cockayne and Allan (loc. cit. 15) state that the original description was "drawn up from living material in Cockayne's former New Brighton garden". The sp. is said to be variable but to differ from H. dieffenbachii in smaller size, more slender stems, broader light green lvs, very small bracts, and much shorter racemes; fls are either white or fade from lavender to white.

The only spp. of Hebe recorded from Chatham Is are those endemic there except that W 5298 labelled "Chatham Isds, G. Mair" is undoubted H. elliptica. The six spp. that have been described appear to fall into three broad groups all sharing the following common characters: sessile lvs, often ± amplexicaul and never with any sinus in lf-bud; rather hoary branchlet-pubescence, often well-developed, sts represented only by a few hairs at node; very acute calyx-lobes; rather small fls with abundant pubescence in throat of corolla. Many of the plants are low-growing and ± prostrate; size and shape of lvs, racemes and fls and distribution and kind of indumentum on stems, lvs, calyx, ovary and style show bewildering diversity that cannot be satisfactorily resolved on limited herbarium specimens. Mueller (Veg. Chath. Is, 1864, 46) was "induced to unite all the plants enumerated [Chatham Is plants and those attributed to some 20 other spp. of N.Z. and S. America] . . . as forms of one species . . . for which, to avoid misunderstanding, the collective name V. Forsteri has now been adopted. The forms which it comprises, though in their extremes habitually so dissimilar, are clearly linked together by an uninterrupted chain of graduations".