Veronica petriei
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Low growing sprawling shrub bearing pairs of rounded green fleshy leaves inhabiting western Otago mountains. Leaves 5–7.5 mm long by 2.5–5 mm wide, hardly narrowing to leaf stalk. Leaf bud with narrow gap between leaves at base. Flower spike conspicuous, rounded, at tip of twigs, to 6 cm long.
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Subshrub or spreading low shrub to 0.3 m tall. Branches decumbent, old stems red-brown or brown; branchlets green or purplish, glabrous or minutely puberulent, hairs bifarious; internodes 1.5–6–(9) mm; leaves not readily abscising, persisting on stem, or decaying leaving basal parts attached. Leaf bud more or less indistinct and tightly surrounded by recently diverged leaves; sinus narrow and acute. Leaves decussate to subdistichous, connate, erectopatent to recurved; lamina obovate or oblong or elliptic (often narrowly), slightly fleshy, concave (shallowly), (4)–5–7.5–(12) × (2)–2.5–5–(5.5) mm; apex obtuse to rounded; midrib slightly thickened below; margin not cartilaginous, not thickened, minutely ciliolate, occasionally tinged red; upper surface green, dull, without evident or with few stomata, hairy toward base; lower surface green; petiole (0.5)–1–2.5–(3) mm, hairy along margins and above. Inflorescences with 18–62 flowers, terminal, unbranched (sometimes with numerous sterile bracts towards the base), 0.8–2.5–(6) cm; peduncle 0.1–0.7 cm; rachis 0.5–4.2 cm. Bracts alternate, linear to narrowly ovate sometimes minutely hairy outside (especially on lower, sterile bracts). Flowers hermaphrodite or female (on different plants). Pedicels always shorter than bracts, 0.5–2.5 mm (longest towards base of inflorescence). Calyx 4–5–(6.5) mm; lobes linear (usually) to narrowly oblong, acute to subacute. Corolla tube glabrous; tube of hermaphrodite flowers (4.2)–5–5.5–(7) × 1.5–2 mm, cylindric, longer than (usually) or equalling calyx; lobes white at anthesis. elliptic (usually narrowly), subacute to obtuse (posterior sometimes emarginate), suberect to recurved, equalling or shorter than corolla tube. Stamen filaments remaining erect, 1.3–1.7 mm (hermaphrodite flowers); anthers magenta, 0.9–1.5–(2) mm; sterile anthers of female flowers magenta. Ovary conical, 2–2.5 mm; ovules 8–15 per locule; style 3–6 mm; stigma more conspicuous in female flowers. Capsules acute, 4–4.5 × 1.7–2.3 mm, loculicidal split extending ⅓-way to base. Seeds flattened, ellipsoid to discoid, brown, 0.7–1.1 × 0.6–0.9 mm, micropylar rim 0.2–0.3 mm.
Similar taxa
Similar to V. murrelli (see notes under that species). It is also similar to V. kellowiae, in having shortly connate leaves, sterile bracts sometimes present at the base of inflorescences, and magenta anthers held at the mouth of the cylindrical corolla tube. Veronica petriei has a longer corolla tube (5–5.5 mm) and calyx (4–5 mm) than V. kellowiae (2.8–3.5 mm and 2.5–4 mm respectively); V. petriei also usually has a simple terminal inflorescence with alternate bracts and pedicellate flowers, compared to V. kellowiae having a terminal inflorescence with opposite bracts and sessile flowers.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (mountains of Otago and Southland, including Mount Repulse, the Pisa Range, and the Forbes, Humboldt, Livingstone, Hector, Eyre, Garvie and Takitimu mountains).
Habitat
It grows on alpine rocks and scree.
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DPS, DPT
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Plantaginaceae
Synonyms
Mitrasacme petriei Buchanan, Leonohebe petriei (Buchanan) Heads, Hebe petriei (Buchanan) Cockayne et Allan
Taxonomic notes
Despite the similarities between V. petriei and V. kellowiae, the two are geographically disjunct, and analysis of ITS sequences (e.g. Wagstaff et al. 2002) does not suggest that they are closely related.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
(October)–December–February–(March)
Fruiting
(November)–March
Life cycle and dispersal
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’.
petriei: Named after Donald Petrie (1846 -1925), Scottish born Otago botanist
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.
VERPET
Chromosome number
2n = 42
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Bayly MJ, Kellow AV. 2006. An illustrated guide to New Zealand Hebes. Te Papa Press, Wellington, NZ. 388 p.
Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2009.06.001.
Wagstaff SJ, Bayly MJ, Garnock-Jones PJ, Albach DC. 2002. Classification, origin, and diversification of the New Zealand Hebes (Scrophulariaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89: 38–63. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/87374#page/40/mode/1up.
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 petriei Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/veronica-petriei/ (Date website was queried)