Flora of New Zealand Series

Veronica salicornioides Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 212.

Type: K, "Nelson Mts, Rough"

Erect shrub to 1 m. tall. Ultimate branchlets 2-5-(8) cm. long, erect, 2-2.5 mm. diam., perfectly terete, softly fleshy and flexible when fresh, not at all glossy; internodes 2-3-(4) mm. long, exposed for most of length; nodal joint obscure except in older stems. Lvs up to 1 mm. long, connate for at least 1/2 length to form short sheathing collar, appressed, thinly fleshy and delicate when fresh, slightly spreading when dry, apex obtusely rounded or rarely subacute, sts slightly convex and incurved, margined with pale membr. rim. Spikes up to 12-fld. Bracts c. 1·5 mm. long, obtuse or truncate. Calyx 2-2.5-(3) mm., anterior lobes obtuse, fused for c. ⅔ length or completely to apex. Corolla-tube us. slightly < calyx, as broad as long. Capsule 4·5-5 × 2-2.5 mm., rhomboid-ovate, subacute to acute, much > calyx.

DIST.: S. "Nelson Mts", Rough; Wairau Mts, Travers; Tarndale Mt, L. Cockayne; Mt. Charon, Hanmer, A. H. Cockayne, H. J. Matthews; Jack's Pass, L. Metcalfe; Humboldt Mts, L. Cockayne; Mts above Lake Harris, T. Kirk. Subalpine, us. in very wet ground, very local.

A very distinct but greatly misunderstood sp., the name having often been applied to garden plants of H. propinqua and H. ochracea. Many published records are based on misidentifications. The Haast specimens from Rangitata and Waimakariri cited by Hooker have apiculate lvs and probably belong rather to H. armstrongii. Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 819) states that specimens gathered by himself in Wairau Gorge "exactly match one of the type specimens collected by Travers in almost the same locality". A sheet of this collection in Herb. Cheeseman (A 8242, 1624 to Kew) has sharp-tipped lvs and clearly visible nodes which are not matched in either the Travers or the Rough collection; in these respects it resembles H. armstrongii but the few old calyces remaining are deeply split in front. Travers' Wairau specimens are figured by N. E. Brown in Gdnrs' Chron. 1, 1888, 20, f. 3.