Veronica glaucophylla
Common names
hebe
Biostatus
Native
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Bushy rounded shrub with pairs of blueish-green narrow leaves inhabiting mountains of northern Canterbury and south Marlborough. Leaves 9-25mm long by 3-7mm wide. Leaf bud without gap at base. Flowers white, in erect spike longer than leaves. Fruit a dry hairy capsule (lens needed).
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Bushy shrub to 2 m tall. Branches erect, old stems brown; branchlets green or red-brown, puberulent or pubescent, hairs bifarious (usually) or uniform; internodes (1-) 2-7 (-9) mm; leaf decurrencies evident to obscure (sometimes with narrow ridges along margins and medial line of each decurrency, and sometimes also with a slight bulge immediately below each leaf scar). Leaf bud distinct; sinus absent. Leaves erecto-patent (mostly) to patent or recurved (with age); lamina oblong or elliptic or lanceolate, subcoriaceous, flat or slightly concave, (7-) 9-25 x (2-) 3-7 (-8) mm; apex subacute or acute; 2 lateral secondary veins very faintly evident at base of fresh leaves; midrib thickened below and depressed to grooved above (weakly, and not evident near leaf apex); margin sometimes minutely cartilaginous, minutely papillate and either ciliolate (with minute antrorse hairs) or glabrous; upper surface glaucous, with many stomata, glabrous or hairy along midrib (with minute eglandular and/or glandular hairs); lower surface glaucous. Inflorescences with 15-31 flowers, lateral, unbranched, (1.3-) 1.9-3.9 (-4.6) cm, longer than (usually) or about equal to subtending leaves (rarely); peduncle 0.4-0.8 (-1) cm; rachis (0.9-) 1.3-3 (-3.6) cm. Bracts alternate (although often with an opposite/subopposite pair at base), lanceolate or deltoid (sometimes narrowly), obtuse to acute. rarely hairy outside. Flowers all hermaphrodite or possibly hermaphrodite or female (on different plants). Pedicels 0.5-2 (-3) mm, hairy (usually) or glabrous (rarely). Calyx 1.5-2.2 mm; lobes ovate or lanceolate or oblong, obtuse (usually) or subacute, very rarely hairy outside. Corolla tube hairy inside; tube of hermaphrodite flowers 1.1-2.3 x t. 1.7 mm, funnelform or contracted at base, shorter than to longer than calyx (mostly shorter than or equal to calyx, but some specimens from the Hanmer area have corolla tubes slightly longer than the calyx); lobes white at anthesis, circular or rhomboid or oblong (broadly) or obovate, obtuse (sometimes emarginate), patent, longer than corolla tube, sometimes with a few hairs toward base on inner surface. Stamen filaments incurved at apex in bud, 3-4.6 mm; anthers pink or yellow, 1.7-2 mm. Ovary hairy, approximately 1-1.2 mm; ovules 8-10 per locule; style 3-5.3 mm, often hairy. Capsules obtuse or subacute, 2.5-4 x 1.9-3.1 mm, usually hairy, loculicidal split extending ¼-¾-way to base. Seeds flattened, broad ellipsoid, brown, 1.6-2.2 x 1.3-1.5 mm, micropylar rim approximately 0.6 mm.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from other small-leaved “Occlusae” (Bayly & Kellow, 2006) by the combination of: glaucous leaves (otherwise found only in V. topiaria and V. albicans); hairy ovaries and capsules (otherwise common only in V. calcicola and V. rakaiensis) corolla tubes that are usually shorter than or equal to calyces (only sometimes for example, are they slightly longer than calyces). V. glaucophylla is distinguished from most glaucous-leaved species of “Subcarnosae” by its small floral bracts and pedicellate flowers.
Distribution
South Island mountains east of the Main Divide, northern South Island, from the Clarence Valley (Kaikoura ranges, Marlborough) in the north to near Castle Hill (mid-Canterbury) in the south.
Habitat
Shrubland and scrub.
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Plantaginaceae
Synonyms
Hebe glaucophylla (Cockayne) Cockayne, Veronica traversii var. fallax Cheeseman
Taxonomic notes
The name “glaucophylla” has sometimes, erroneously, been associated with plants of H. albicans from North-West Nelson.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
(December-) January February (-March)
Fruiting
January – May (-December)
Life cycle
Seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Other information
Etymology
veronica: Named after Saint Veronica, who gave Jesus her veil to wipe his brow as he carried the cross through Jerusalem, perhaps because the common name of this plant is ‘speedwell’. The name Veronica is often believed to derive from the Latin vera ‘truth’ and iconica ‘image’, but it is actually derived from the Macedonian name Berenice which means ‘bearer of victory’.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
VERGLA
Chromosome number
2n = 80
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Bayly, M.J., Kellow, A.V. 2006. An illustrated guide to New Zealand Hebes. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Papa press pg. 164
Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309
Attribution
Description adapted by M. Ward from Bayly & Kellow (2006).
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: Ward, M.D. (Year at time of access): Veronica glaucophylla Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/veronica-glaucophylla/ (Date website was queried)