Veronica pauciramosa
Common name
hebe
Synonyms
Hebe buxifolia var. pauciramosa Cockayne et Allan, Leonohebe pauciramosa ( Cockayne et Allan) Heads, Hebe pauciramosa (Cockayne et Allan) L.B.Moore
Family
Plantaginaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
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.
HEBPAU
Chromosome number
2n = 42
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.
2012 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Brief description
Low growing bushy shrub bearing pairs of small oval leaves inhabiting wetter sites in South Island mountains. Leaves with sharp shoulder at base, ridge on underside is flattened at tip, surface spotted. Leaf bud with triangular gap between leaves at base. Flower spikes near tip of twigs, in short spike.
Distribution
Mountains of South Island, from the Allen Range southward, mostly on or west of the Main Divide, but with a few records from drier mountains of the east. It also occurs on Stewart Island, where it has been collected from Mount Anglem and Mount Rakeahua.
Habitat
It usually grows in moist or boggy areas in tussock grassland.
Features
Spreading low or bushy shrub to 0.5 m tall. Branches erect or ascending, old stems brown or black; branchlets green or yellowish, pubescent (hairs multicellular, usually upward-facing), hairs bifarious; internodes (1-) 1.5-4.5 (-5.5) mm; leaf decurrencies extended for length of internode and often more or less swollen; leaves abscising above nodes with a small portion of lower part of petioles remaining attached to stem. Leaf bud tightly surrounded by recently diverged leaves; sinus broad and shield-shaped. Leaves erect to patent; lamina broadly oblong or elliptic to subcircular, rigid, concave, (3-) 3.5-7 (-9) x (1.5-) 3.5-6 (-11.5) mm; apex obtuse; base abruptly truncate; midrib evident in fresh leaves (below), forming a thickened keel that is characteristically flattened toward leaf apex; margin glabrous or ciliolate (with short, stiff hairs); upper surface dark green, glossy, with many stomata, glabrous; lower surface, dark green, glossy; petiole (0.5-) 1-1.5 (-3)mm, glabrous. Inflorescence with 2-10 flowers, lateral, unbranched, 0.7-1.7 (-2) cm; rachis coarsely hairy. Bracts opposite and decussate. connate, deltoid, obtuse, margins minutely hairy or glabrous. Flowers hermaphrodite. Pedicels absent or if evident then always shorter than bracts. Calyx 3.5-4.5 mm, 3-4-lobed (i.e. depending on extent of fusion of anterior lobes), with anterior lobes united from 2/3 to all the way to apex (sometimes splitting secondarily as fruit matures); lobes narrowly to broadly oblong, obtuse or emarginate (the latter in anterior lobes when fused to just below apex, minutely, glandular ciliolate. Corolla tube glabrous or sparsely hairy inside, 3.7-5 x 1.3-1.7 mm, cylindric, longer than calyx; lobes white at anthesis, elliptic or ovate, obtuse (posterior sometimes emarginate), patent to recurved, shorter than or equalling corolla tube. Stamen filaments 3.7-5.5 mm; anthers magenta, 1.4-1.7 mm. Ovary 1-1.4 (-1.6) mm; ovules 10-15 per locule; style 3.8-8 mm. Capsules obtuse, 4-5.5 x 2.5-3.5 mm, loculicidal split extending to approximately 1/3-way to base (although sometimes splitting further when very old). Seeds flattened (sometimes strongly), ellipsoid (sometimes broadly), weakly winged, pale brown, 1.1-1.8 x 0.8-1.1 mm, micropylar rim 0.3-0.5 mm.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from similar species of “Buxifoliatae” (see Bayly & Kellow 2006) by the combination of: bracts distinctly shorter than calyces; strictly lateral inflorescences; stomata on the upper leaf surface; leaves in which the keel (along the underside of the midrib) is characteristically flattened just below the tip; leaf buds that are closely surrounded by several imbricate leaf pairs; anterior calyx lobes fused between 2/3 and all the way to the apex; and corolla lobes that are comparatively narrow relative to their length (particularly when compared with V. masoniae and V. mooreae).
Flowering
(October-) November-January (-March)
Fruiting
January-May (-November)
Life cycle
Seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
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’.
pauciramosa: With few branches
Taxonomic notes
As noted by Moore (in Allan 1961), there is one collection at WELT (17269) labelled “Mt Egmont, 4000ft” (D. Petrie, 6 Feb. 1901), and another (WELT 17268) labelled “Port Ross” (T. Kirk, 10 Jan. 1981). No other records are known from either North Island or Auckland Island, and these specimens are not represented on the distribution.
Attribution
Description adapted by M. Ward from Bayly & Kellow (2006).
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1.Wellington: Government Printer.
Bayly, M.J., Kellow, A.V. 2006. An illustrated guide to New Zealand Hebes. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Papa press pg. 222.
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
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: Ward, M.D. (Year at time of access): Veronica pauciramosa Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/veronica-pauciramosa/ (Date website was queried)