Veronica murrellii
Common names
Murrell’s hebe
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Sprawling low growing shrub with many erect twigs bearing widely-spaced pairs of small rounded glossy green leaves inhabiting Fiordland mountains. Twigs green. Leaves 3-9mm long by 2-5mm wide. Leaf bud with small gap between base of leaves. Flowers small, white, in spike to 4cm long at tip of twigs.
Flower colours
Violet/Purple, White
Detailed description
Spreading or trailing gynodioecious subshrub with ascending to erect branchlets, to 200 mm tall. Old stems grey or brown; branchlets greenish to pale brown, with red band at nodes, bifariously pubescent; internodes 1–2× diameter. Leaf bud with narrow acuminate sinus . Leaves spreading, very shortly connate; lamina elliptic to obovate, subcoriaceous, yellowish green above and beneath, 3.5–9.0 × 2.0–5.0 mm, usually with sparse, very short, tapering eglandular hairs on midrib above and beneath and margins, rarely glabrous ; apex broadly rounded; base cuneately narrowed to short broad flat petiole; margin entire, yellowish, rounded. Inflorescences terminal, racemose, 10–30 mm long; flowers crowded, spiralled . Peduncle and rachis puberulent; peduncle very short . Bracts linear-lanceolate to narrow-elliptic, obtuse to acute , minutely ciliolate, slightly shorter than calyx lobes . Pedicels erecto-patent, 0.5–2.0 mm long. Flowers sweetly scented, female or hermaphrodite on separate plants. Calyx lobes 4, oblong to elliptic, obtuse to subacute, not overlapping, 2.5–3.0 × 1.0–1.5 mm; margin minutely glandular and eglandular ciliolate. Corolla white; tube 1.5–2.0 × 1.5–2.0 mm, funnelform, glabrous; lobes recurved, elliptic (female) to broadly elliptic (hermaphrodite), obtuse, 2.5–3.0 × 1.5–2.5 mm. Anthers purple, obtuse, fertile and c.2 mm long (hermaphrodite) or sterile and c.1 mm long (female); filaments white, long-exserted, 1(female)-3(hermaphrodite) mm long, erect or slightly spreading. Nectarial disk glabrous, fleshy, green. Style white, glabrous, 1–5 mm long, curving to anterior of flower, clavate below stigma; stigma subcapitate. Ovary ovoid, glabrous, c.1.0 × 0.7 mm. Capsule flattened, ovate, acute, dark brown, 3.5–4.0 × 3.0 mm, 1 mm thick, septicidal to base, loculicidal at apex only. Seeds pale orange-brown, elliptic, strongly piano-convex, smooth, 0.9–1.1 × 0.6–0.8 mm.
Similar taxa
Veronica murrellii is most similar to V. petriei from which it differs by generally more compact growth habit, paler green leaves, leaf bases that are barely connate, stems that are distinctly bifariously pubescent, a shorter and broader corolla tube, broader and recurved corolla lobes, while the purple anthers are held well outside the corolla throat on long filaments.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (Fiordland National Park, along and west of the Main Divide, Takitimu Mountains)
Habitat
Alpine. Inhabiting scree, talus, and sparsely vegetated rock outcrops.
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 petriei var. murrellii (G.Simpson et J.S.Thomson) L.B.Moore, Hebe murrellii G.Simpson et J.S.Thomson, Leonohebe petriei var. murrellii (G.Simpson et J.S.Thomson) Heads;
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December - March
Fruiting
January – April
Life cycle and dispersal
Seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult. Best in an alpine house or rock garden. Dislikes high humidity.
Other information
Where To Buy
Not Commercially Available.
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’.
murrellii: Named in honour of Robert Murrell, Fiordland explorer
Chromosome number
2n = 42
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Garnock-Jones, P.J.; Clarkson, B.D. 1991: Hebe adamsii and H. murrellii (Scrophulariaceae) reinstated. New Zealand Journal of Botany 32: 11-15.
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
Fact Sheet by P.J. de Lange (28 August 2005): Description from Garnock-Jones and Clarkson (1991)
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Veronica murrellii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/veronica-murrellii/ (Date website was queried)