Species

Veronica lycopodioides

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'.
lycopodioides: Resembling a club moss, from the genus

Lycopodium and -oides a Greek suffix which means 'resembling'.

Common Name(s)

whipcord

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 lycopodioides Hook.f.

Family

Plantaginaceae

Brief Description

Spreading low growing shrub bearing yellowish-green erect narrow short scaly twigs inhabiting South Island mountains. Twigs 2.3-3.3mm wide. Leaves scale

-like, striped, closely packed, tip pointed, clasping stem, sometimes with a hairy margin (lens needed). Flowers white, in groups of 6-16 at tips of twigs.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

HEBLYC

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.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Hebe lycopodioides (Hook.f.) Andersen, Hebe lycopodioides (Hook.f.) Cockayne et Allan nom. superf., nom. illeg., Leonohebe lycopodioides (Hook.f.) Heads var. lycopodioides, Leonohebe lycopodioides var. patula (G.Simpson et J.S.Thomson) Heads, Hebe lycopodioides subsp. patula (G.Simpson & J.S.Thomson) Wagstaff et Wardle, Hebe lycopodioides var. patula G.Simpson et J.S.Thomson

Distribution

Mountains of South Island, chiefly on or east of the Main Divide, from the Bryant Range in the north to the Kakanui Mountains in the south.

Habitat

Grows in penalpine grassland and subalpine shrubland.

Features

Spreading low or bushy shrub to 1 m tall, of whipcord

form. Branches ascending or decumbent or erect; internodes (0. 55-) 0.8-1.3 (- 1.55) mm; branchlets, including leaves, (1.8-) 2.3-3.3 (-4.2) mm wide; connate leaf bases hairy; nodal joint distinct, usually hidden (but sometimes barely) or exposed; leaves not readily abscising, persistent along the stem for some distance. Leaves connate, appressed; lamina not thickened near the apex; apex mucronate (usually) to subacute; margin ciliate or ciliolate; lower surface dark green to yellowish-green, with prominent shallow veins that give a ribbed or striped appearance (at least faintly), dull to slightly glossy. Juvenile leaves crenate to pinnatifid, ciliate (near base and on lower surface). Reversion leaves entire or incised to pinnatifid, glabrous. Inflorescences with (4-) 6-16 (-20) flowers, terminal, unbranched, (0.35-) 0.5-1.6 (-1.9) cm; rachis hairy (with long, white, tangled hairs). Bracts opposite and decussate, connate, broadly deltoid, acuminate to subacute. Flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx 2.8-3.5 mm, 4-5-lobed (5th lobe small, posterior); lobes lanceolate or elliptic or oblong, obtuse to acute, with mixed glandular and eglandular cilia (glandular hairs usually obscured by long eglandular hairs). Corolla tube hairy inside, 2.5-3.2 x 1.1-1.3 mm, cylindric, longer than or approximately equalling calyx; lobes white at anthesis, elliptic or ovate, obtuse (posterior sometimes emarginate), suberect to patent, shorter to longer than corolla tube. Stamen filaments 2.5-3.6 mm; anthers magenta, approximately 1-1.3 mm. Ovary 0.7-0.8 mm, apex (in septum view) didymous; ovules approximately 13-16 per locule, marginal on a flattened placenta (but sometimes recurved and appearing scattered), in 1-2 layers; style 2.5-7 mm. Capsules obtuse, (1.7-) 2.2-3.4 x (1.3-) 1.8-2.4 mm, loculicidal split extending ¼-½-way to base. Seeds flattened, ellipsoid, more or less finely papillate, pale brown, 0.9-1.5 x approximately 0.7 mm, micropylar rim approximately 0.2 mm.

Similar Taxa

Similar to V. poppelwellii, from which it is distinguished by its strongly mucronate

, acute or apiculate leaf apices.

Flowering

(November-) December-February (-April)

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

January-April (-December)

Chromosome No.

2n = 40

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

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

Taxonomic notes

Plants from near Lewis Pass were included in var. patula (Simpson & Thomson 1943; Ashwin, in Allan 1961) or subsp. patula (Wagstaff & Wardle 1999), on the basis of their less mucronate

leaves, often slender branchlets and usually low-growing habit. Despite obvious geographic trends in these characters, specimens cannot be separated into clear-cut morphological groups, and no infraspecific taxa are recognised here.

Historical specimens of H. J. Matthews (WELT I 7415, 17420; AK 8215, 8216) suggest the species may also occur in the Greenstone Valley and Humboldt Mountains, western side of Lake Wakatipu, but these localities have not been substantiated by recent collections (and at least some of Matthews specimens are based on cultivated plants, and there might have been confusion regarding original provenance

).


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. 100.

Simpson, G. and Thomson, J. S. 1943. Notes on some New Zealand plants and descriptions of new species. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand73: 155- 71.

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

Wagstaff, S. J. and Wardle, P. 1999. Whipcord

hebes - systematics, distribution, ecology and evolution. New Zealand Journal of Botany 37: 17-39.

This page last updated on 13 Nov 2019