The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Veronica glaucophylla

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'.

Common Name(s)

Hebe

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Veronica glaucophylla Cockayne

Family

Plantaginaceae

Brief 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).

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

HEBGLA

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Hebe glaucophylla (Cockayne) Cockayne, Veronica traversii var. fallax Cheeseman

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.

Features

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.

Flowering

(December-) January ­ February (-March)

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

January – May (-December)

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 80

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 13 Nov 2019