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  4. Veronica quadrifaria

Veronica quadrifaria

Photographer: John Barkla, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mt Peel, Canterbury.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 05/03/2022, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mt Peel, Canterbury.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 05/03/2022, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mt Peel, Canterbury.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 05/03/2022, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mt Peel, Canterbury.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 05/03/2022, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mt Dumblane, Hanmer Forest.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 14/04/2024, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mt Dumblane, Hanmer Forest.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 14/04/2024, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Mt Dumblane, Hanmer Forest.<br>Photographer: Melissa Hutchison, Date taken: 14/04/2024, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Grampian range, January.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
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Common names

whipcord hebe

Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

Simplified description

Low-growing, green, leafless square twigs inhabiting eastern South Island mountains north of the Waitaki River. Leaves scale-like, triangular, overlapping, clasping stem, margin with pale hairs (lens needed). Flowers white, in clusters of 2-6 towards tips of twigs.

Detailed description

Subshrub to 0.3 m tall, of semiwhipcord form. Branches decumbent; internodes (0.15-) 0.2- 0.7 (-0.8) mm; branchlets, including leaves, (1.3-) 1.5-2.4 (-2.7) mm wide, square in transverse section (or almost so, especially older pans of branchlets, away from the apex); connate leaf bases glabrous; leaves not readily abscising, persistent along the stem for some distance. Leaf bud tightly surrounded by recently diverged leaves. Leaves connate, appressed; lamina deltoid (often broadly so) or semi-circular (more rarely); apex obtuse to acute; venation not evident in fresh leaves; margin ciliate; lower surface light to dark green. Inflorescences with 2-6 flowers, lateral, unbranched, 0.3-0.5 (-0.75) cm; peduncle 0.1-0.35 cm; rachis hairy or glabrous. Bracts opposite and decussate, free (usually) or connate, deltoid (and lowermost often keeled beneath), obtuse. Flowers male or female (on different plants). Pedicels absent or if evident then always shorter than bracts, 0-0.5 mm, glabrous or hairy. Calyx 1.3-2.2 mm; lobes deltoid or ovate or oblong, obtuse, with mixed glandular and eglandular cilia (glandular cilia may not be apparent, stalk cell may be very short), rarely hairy outside. Corolla tube glabrous; tube of male flowers approximately 1-1.1 mm, shorter than calyx; tube of female flowers 0.5-1.2 x approximately 1 mm, contracted at base (and more or less expanded around middle), shorter than or equalling calyx; lobes white or pink at anthesis, elliptic or ovate or rhomboid (and auriculate above contracted base), obtuse, suberect to recurved, longer than corolla tube, papillate inside. Stamen filaments remaining erect, 1.1-1 .4 mm (female approximately 1.1 mm; male approximately 1.4 mm); anthers magenta, 1-1.1 mm; sterile anthers of female flowers magenta, approximately 0.5 mm. Nectarial disc glabrous or ciliate. Ovary ovoid or ellipsoid, 0.4-0.6 mm; ovules 4-5 per locule, in 2 vertical rows on placenta; style 1.5-2.2 mm; stigma usually larger in female flowers. Capsules angustiseptate, obtuse, 1.6-2.2 mm long, 1.3-2 mm thick, septicidal split extending 1/3 to all way to base, loculicidal split extending ½-¾-way to base. Seeds weakly flattened to more or less trigonal, ellipsoid, brown, 1-1.2 x 0.5-0.7 mm, micropylar rim 0.2-0.3 mm. 211 = 42.

Similar taxa

Most similar to V. tetrasticha; presently the two species are differentiated by the profile of the transverse section of branchlets, cruciform in V. tetrasticha, square in V. quadrifaria. However branchlets vary between the two extremes and differences are not always clear-cut.

Distribution

South Island: Eastern mountains of the Main Divide, from Black Birch Range, Marlborough, to Kirkliston Range, south Canterbury.

Habitat

Alpine rock outcrops 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.

  • 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

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Plantaginaceae

Authority

Veronica quadrifaria Kirk

Synonyms

Mitrasacme cheesemanii Buchanan, Hebe cheesemanii (Buchanan) Cockayne et Allan, Leonohebe cheesemanii (Buchanan) Heads

Taxonomic notes

Possibly intergrades with V. tumida, and differences from V. tetrasticha are not always clear-cut.

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

December-January

Fruiting

December-February

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’.

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.

VERQUA

Chromosome number

2n = 42

Previous conservation statuses

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.

  • 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.

2017 | Not Threatened

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Jump to current conservation status

Regional conservation statuses

The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.

Otago: 2024 | Regionally Data Deficient | Qualifiers: TL

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Bayly, M.J. & Kellow, A.V. 2006: An illustrated guide to New Zealand Hebes. Wellington, Te Papa Press. 296 pp.

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 quadrifaria Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/veronica-quadrifaria/ (Date website was queried)

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