Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica matthewsii Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 517.

Type locality: Humboldt Mountains. Type: A, 7955, H. J. Matthews, 1581 to Kew.

"An erect glabrous shrub 2-4 ft. high or more". Branchlets "stout, often purplish red when young", glab., length of internodes 2-4-(6) × diam. Lvs "suberect or spreading", 2.5-3·5 × 1-1·5 cm., oblong or elliptic-oblong, thick and coriac., ± fleshy; lf-bud without sinus, the lf-base rounded; lamina obtuse, glab., entire, margin cartilaginous, midrib neither deeply sunken above nor prominent below. Infls lateral, simple, us. tapering, 7-10 cm. long; peduncle us. 2-3 cm. long, hairy-pubescent. Fls rather close, pedicels mostly c. 1 mm. long and ± hidden by broad subacute ciliate bracts; pedicel and rather well-developed calyx-base with evenly spaced retrorse cilia. Calyx-lobes c. 2 × 1·5 mm., ovate, obtuse, margin membr. with stiff cilia. Corolla-tube 4-5 mm. long, cylindric, rather slender, lobes c. 3 mm. long, broadly rounded. Capsule erect, c. 4 × 2.5 mm., broadly ovate and ± turgid, with scattered short hairs.

DIST.: S. Otago; Canterbury Alps?

Best known from garden plants (e.g. A 7958, 7960, 7961 and Ill. N.Z. Fl. 2, 1914, t. 151) but these agree with specimens labelled as from Humboldt Mts, all apparently from one collecting. Other matching specimens are: W 5326 Canterbury, Haast; W 5327 and A 7954, Southern Alps, J. B. Armstrong; and W 5328 Milford Sound, J. D. Enys, the same gathering also represented in CM. No more recent wild collections have been seen and Cockayne and Allan (T.N.Z.I. 57, 1926, 58) regard the sp. as "unproven". It is here retained because it shows several characters not easily attributed to hybridism between any two spp. growing in the same areas.