Species

Veronica macrantha var. macrantha

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'.
macrantha: big flowered

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 macrantha Hook.f., var. macrantha

Family

Plantaginaceae

Brief Description

Low erect shrub bearing pairs of fleshy notched oval

leaves and conspicuous white flowers on short erect branches inhabiting South Island mountains. Leaves distinctly longer than wide, gradually narrowing to leaf stalk and with 2-6 notches per side. Flowers white, in a cluster at tip of branches.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

HEBMVM

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 macrantha (Hook.f.) Cockayne et Allan var. macrantha, Parahebe macrantha (Hook.f.) Heads

Distribution

Mountains of South Island, chiefly on or west of the Main Divide, from near Lake Tennyson, to the Franklin Mountains. The varieties overlap in distribution at Lake Tennyson, southern Nelson, and possibly also (not verified by specimens) at localities between there and Lewis Pass.

Habitat

It grows in penalpine grassland or low shrubland.

Features

Spreading low shrub to 0.3 (-0.5) m tall. Branches erect or spreading or decumbent

, old stems mottled grey; branchlets green or red-brown or brown, glabrous or puberulent (usually only on very youngest branchlets), hairs uniform or bifarious; internodes 1-14 mm; leaf decurrencies obscure to swollen. Leaf bud indistinct and tightly surrounded by recently diverged leaves. Leaves narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate, or spathulate or sub-circular, coriaceous, slightly concave or flat, 5.5-30.2 x 2.5-13.5 mm, ratio of lamina length/width 1.2-3.3 (-3.8), distance from leaf base (including petiole) to widest point (5.1-) 10-20 (-23.2) mm,; apex subacute or obtuse; midrib not thickened, or depressed to grooved above and thickened below, sometimes evident in fresh leaves; margin glabrous or sparsely ciliolate, sometimes tinged red, deeply toothed, number of teeth on one side of leaf (2-) 3-7 (-11); upper surface green (sometimes tinged red near base), dull, with many stomata, glabrous or hairy along midrib; lower surface green, hairy along midrib (usually) or glabrous; petiole 0.5-5.4 mm. Inflorescences with 2-7 flowers, lateral, unbranched, 0.8-5.7 cm, with all flowers (including those near the apex) generally developing to maturity (but inflorescence usually terminated by a pair of empty bracts); peduncle (6-) 7-30.7 mm long; rachis 0.2-2.7 cm. Lowermost bracts on inflorescences (4-) 5-9.1 mm long, lowermost pair opposite, then subopposite or alternate above, narrowly deltoid or linear, obtuse (with a more or less squarish tip, often with a sunken apical gland). Flowers hermaphrodite. Pedicels shorter than bracts, (0.5-) 1-6 (-14.7) mm. Calyx 4.7-10.2 mm; lobes ovate or lanceolate, acuminate (with a more or less squarish tip, often with a sunken apical gland), glabrous outside (but hairy inside). Corolla tube glabrous, 4.5-5.3 x 2.5-4.5 mm (longer on anterior side), funnelform, shorter than calyx; lobes white at anthesis, ovate (often broadly), obtuse, patent to recurved, longer than corolla tube; corolla throat white or yellow. Stamen filaments thick and white, diverging slightly with age or remaining erect (and usually slightly incurved at the apex), 8-9.5 mm (varying from very shortly fused to the base of the corolla tube, to fused to the corolla lube for up to 2/3 its length); anthers creamy white or yellow, 2.6-3.5 mm. Ovary 1.6-2.5 mm; ovules 15-28 per locule, scattered on a hemispherical placenta; style 5.5-9.3 mm. Capsules angustiseptate, acute, 6.5-12.4 mm long, 4.5-6.5 mm thick, loculicidal split extending ¼-all way to base. Seeds flattened (sometimes strongly), discoid, winged, pale brown, 1.5-2.7 x 1.2-2.2 mm, micropylar rim 0.6-1 mm.

Similar Taxa

A distinctive species distinguished from other Veronica’s by its large flowers, toothed leaves, indistinct leaf bud and laterally compressed capsules. Compared to V. var. brachyphylla, V. var. macrantha has leaves narrowly elliptic

or oblanceolate (not broadly elliptic); a greater distance from leaf base (including petiole) to widest point; generally a greater number of teeth on one side of leaf; longer lowermost bract on inflorescence (see each variants feature for exact measures).

Flowering

(November-) December-February (-April)

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

(December-) February-May (-November)

Chromosome No.

2n = 42

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

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

Taxonomic notes

Morphological variation, and the taxonomic status of the two varieties, are discussed by Bayly et al. (2004). V. var. macrantha is more variable, particularly in leaf shape and size, than V. var. brachyphylla.


Attribution

Description adapted by M. Ward from Bayly & Kellow (2006).

References and further reading

Bayly, M.J., Kellow, A.V. 2006. An illustrated guide to New Zealand Hebes. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Papa press pg. 286.

Bayly, M.J., Kellow, A.V., Ansell, R., Mitchell, K. and Markham, K. R. 2004. Geographic variation in Hebe macrantha (Plantaginaceae): morphology and Flavonoid chemistry. Tuhinga, Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 15: 27-41.

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

This page last updated on 13 Nov 2019