Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica traversii Hook. f. in Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 208.

V. traversii var. elegans Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 519.

Type locality: Hurunui Mts, 900-1200 m. altitude. Type: K, Travers, lectotype chosen by V. S. Summerhayes in Kew Bull. 1927, 397; syntype in CM.

Laxly branched shrub to c. 2 m. tall. Branchlets rather slender, glab. to very finely pubescent, length of internodes 2-6 × diam., lf-scars becoming inconspicuous and older branches smooth and grey. Lvs spreading, c. 2-2.5 cm. × 4-7 mm., narrow-oblong, subcoriac., rather dull yellowish green, not darkening greatly on drying; lf-bud without sinus, the lamina only slightly narrowed to base where two lateral nerves often appear; lamina narrowed rather abruptly to subacute tip, entire, glab. except for minute pubescence on upper surface near base and on upper margin. Infls lateral, simple, c. 2 × lf-length; peduncle short, finely pubescent. Bracts < 1 mm. long, ciliolate, us. much < pedicels. Calyx-lobes 1-1·5 mm. long, broad, obtuse, ciliolate on pale membr. border. Corolla white, tube c. 3 mm. long, narrow, hairy within, lobes < tube, rounded. Capsule ± erect, 4-5 mm. long, narrowly oval, flat and pale brown when mature, to 4 × calyx-lobes.

DIST.: S. Marlborough to mid-Canterbury. Banks and streamsides.

FL. 12-2-(3).

As lectotype of V. traversii var. elegans is chosen A 8004, Craigieburn, Upper Waimakariri, L. Cockayne, n. 8018, 1574 to Kew; this last number is quoted in Summerhayes's list of specimens of V. traversii. Cheeseman notes (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 519) that his var. elegans "in the long and slender corolla-tube and in other respects" approaches V. leiophylla. In fact many of the specimens he determined as V. leiophylla match the type of H. traversii and in particular the capsules shown in his illustration under the former name (Ill. N.Z. Fl. 2, 1914, Pl. 149) are characteristic of the latter sp.; on the basis of this figure many fruiting specimens of H. traversii, but few in fl., have been named V. leiophylla.