Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica chathamica Buchan. in T.N.Z.I. 7, 1875, 338, t. 13, f. 1.

Type locality: not specified; Buchanan mentions only plants "cultivated by Mr. Travers in his garden in Wellington". Type: None so labelled in Herb. Buchanan in OM.

Small prostrate rambling shrub. Branchlets slender, rarely quite glab., internodes short to long. Lvs tending to lie in one plane, (8)-15-36 × 5-12 mm., elliptic to obovate-oblong, rather thick, fleshy, pale green; lf-bud without sinus, the lf-base narrowing gradually to little more than branchlet-width; lamina obtuse to subacute, entire with narrow cartilaginous border. Infls lateral, simple, peduncle c. = flowering portion which is compact and almost as broad as long. Fls pedicellate, bracts often linear and = pedicels. Calyx-lobes linear-lanceolate, acute. Corolla "dark purple", tube little > calyx, lobes c. = tube, rounded. Capsule short and broad, us. < 2 × calyx.

DIST.: Ch. Maritime cliffs where there is maximum of spray.

FL. 11-3.

H. coxiana (Kirk) Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 60, 1929, 470.  Veronica coxiana Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 28, 1896, 529.  V. chathamica var. coxiana (Kirk) Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 794. Type: W, 5295, Chatham Island, F. A. D. Cox. Kirk emended the description of V. chathamica from which he distinguished V. coxiana by the stouter but less woody suberect stems, pubescent membr. lvs, broader racemes, and by corolla-tube being longer than limb. Available herbarium specimens fall without too much overlapping into two categories: (a) more nearly glab. plants; (b) those with lvs clothed on both surfaces in soft hairs, tending to have also pubescence on bracts, calyx-lobes, ovary and style; plants in the latter category, which includes the type of V. coxiana, are not always less woody or larger-lvd than the more nearly glab. plants. Martin (fide Cockayne T.N.Z.I. 60, 1929, 470) noted crossing [in the field] with larger-lvd spp.