The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Veronica odora

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'.
odora: Latin. (odorus = having a smell, usually sweet-smelling), presumably refers to the flowers, which Hooker (1844), when naming the species, described as having a "delicious fragrance" (this feature is apparently not, however, always found in the species).

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 odora Hook.f.

Family

Plantaginaceae

Brief Description

Rounded shrub bearing pairs of small oval leaves with a low ridge on the underside inhabiting mountains south from central North Island and Auckland Islands. Leaves 4.5-11.5mm long by 2.3-5.4mm wide, with abrupt shoulder at base. Leaf bud with small gap at base. Several flower spikes at tip of twigs.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

HEBODO

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Hebe odora (Hook.f.) Cockayne, Leonohebe odora (Hook.f.) Heads, Veronica buxifolia Benth., Hebe buxifolia (Benth.) Cockayne et Allan, Veronica buxifolia var. patens Cheeseman, Veronica anomala J.F.Armstr., Hebe anomala (J.F.Armstr.) Cockayne, Veronica haustrata J.B.Armstr., Veronica buxifolia var. odora (Hook.f.) Kirk, Veronica elliptica var. odora (Hook.f.) Cheeseman, Hebe buxifolia var. odora (Hook.f.) Andersen, Hebe buxiflia (Benth.) Andersen var. buxifolia

Distribution

Widespread, south from the Huiarau Range, Lake Waikaremoana, on mountains of North Island, South Island, Stewart Island and the Auckland Islands. (see notes below)

Habitat

It grows in montane to penalpine grassland, shrubland, bogs and flushes.

Features

Spreading low or bushy shrub (varies from a rounded bush to very lax and open) to 0.9 (-1.7) m tall. Branches spreading or decumbent or ascending or erect, old stems brown or red-brown or grey or black (at least when dry); branchlets green, puberulent or pubescent, hairs bifarious; internodes (0.9-) 1.3-4.5 mm; leaf decurrencies evident and usually swollen; leaves abscising above nodes and lower part of petioles remaining attached to stem. Leaf bud distinct; sinus broad and shield-shaped. Leaves erect to patent; lamina ovate or lanceolate to elliptic or obovate or sometimes almost circular, rigid and coriaceous, concave, (3.6-) 4.5-11.5 x 2.3-5.4 mm; apex subacute; base truncate; midrib thickened below; margin glabrous, usually entire or sometimes minutely crenulate; upper surface dark green, glossy, without evident stomata (usually) or with many stomata (on many plants from Arthur's Pass area), glabrous; lower surface green (paler than upper); petiole 0.5-1.5 (-2.2) mm, glabrous. Inflorescences mostly terminal and lateral but sometimes only terminal, unbranched, (0.6-) 1-2.8 cm; peduncle 0.13-0.36 cm, bifariously hairy or glabrous; rachis 0.5-1.7cm, hairy (usually bifariously). Bracts opposite and decussate, free, ovate, subacute. Flowers hermaphrodite (although E. M. Low (pers. comm. 2005) suggests that some populations include female plants). Pedicels absent. Calyx 3.5-5 mm; lobes elliptic, subacute to obtuse. Corolla tube hairy inside, approximately 3-3.5 x approximately 1.5 mm, narrowly cylindric, approximately equalling or longer than calyx; lobes white at anthesis, narrowly to broadly elliptic, obtuse, patent to recurved, equalling or longer than corolla tube, sometimes sparsely hairy inside. Stamen filaments 2-3.2 mm; anthers pink, 1.9-2.4 mm. Ovary ovoid or globose, 0.7-1.2 mm; ovules approximately 8-13 per locule; style approximately 5.5-7 mm. Capsules subacute or obtuse, 3.9-4.5 x approximately 3.4-3.6 mm, loculicidal split extending ¼-½-way to base. Seeds flattened, ellipsoid (sometimes broadly), not winged to only weakly winged, straw-yellow to pale brown, 1.2-1.8 x 0.9-1.3 mm, micropylar rim 0.3-0.6 mm.

Similar Taxa

Distinguished from similar species of "Buxifoliatae" (see Bayly & Kellow 2006) by the combination of: bracts not extending beyond tips of calyces; inflorescences that consist of a terminal spike, beneath which there are usually also lateral spikes in the axils of the uppermost leaf pairs; no stomata on the upper leaf surface, except in many specimens from the Arthurs Pass area; leaves that are sharply keeled beneath (along the midrib) throughout their length; leaf buds that are usually not closely surrounded by several imbricate leaf pairs (particularly when compared with V. masoniae and V. pauciramosa); free anterior calyx lobes; and corolla lobes that are comparatively narrow relative to their length (particularly when compared with V. masoniae and V. mooreae). Leaves are variable in shape and size. V. odora is sometimes confused with V. venustula and H. brachysiphon with which it may co-occur in subalpine shrubland on North Island and South Island, respectively. It is readily distinguished from both these species by: its shield-shaped leaf bud sinus; terminal clusters of inflorescences; and flowers and fruits that are sessile and subtended by coriaceous and comparatively larger bracts.

Flowering

(November-) December-January (-March)

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

December-April (-November)

Chromosome No.

2n = 42, 84

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 18 Dec 2019