The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Veronica petriei

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'.
petriei: Named after Donald Petrei (1846 -1925), Otago botanist

Current Conservation Status

2018 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon

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

2012 - Not Threatened
2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Veronica petriei (Buchanan) Kirk

Family

Plantaginaceae

Brief Description

Low growing sprawling shrub bearing pairs of rounded green fleshy leaves inhabiting western Otago mountains. Leaves 5-7.5mm long by 2.5-5mm wide, hardly narrowing to leaf stalk. Leaf bud with narrow gap between leaves at base. Flower spike conspicuous, rounded, at tip of twigs, to 6cm long.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

HEBPET

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

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

Distribution

Mountains of Otago and Southland, South Island, including Mount Repulse, the Pisa Range, and the Forbes, Humboldt, Livingstone, Hector, Eyre, Garvie and Takitimu mountains.

Habitat

It grows on alpine rocks and scree.

Features

Subshrub or spreading low shrub to 0.3 m tall. Branches decumbent. old stems red-brown or brown; branchlets green or purplish, glabrous or minutely puberulent, hairs bifarious; internodes 1.5-6 (-9) mm; leaves not readily abscising, persisting on stem, or decaying leaving basal parts attached. Leaf bud more or less indistinct and tightly surrounded by recently diverged leaves; sinus narrow and acute. Leaves decussate to subdistichous, connate, erectopatent to recurved; lamina obovate or oblong or elliptic (often narrowly), slightly fleshy, concave (shallowly), (4-) 5-7.5 (-12) x (2-) 2.5-5 (-5.5) mm; apex obtuse to rounded; midrib slightly thickened below; margin not cartilaginous, not thickened, minutely ciliolate, occasionally tinged red; upper surface green, dull, without evident or with few stomata, hairy toward base; lower surface green; petiole (0.5-) 1-2.5 (-3) mm, hairy along margins and above. Inflorescences with 18-62 flowers, terminal, unbranched (sometimes with numerous sterile bracts towards the base), 0.8-2.5 (-6) cm; peduncle 0.1-0.7 cm; rachis 0.5-4.2 cm. Bracts alternate, linear to narrowly ovate sometimes minutely hairy outside (especially on lower, sterile bracts). Flowers hermaphrodite or female (on different plants). Pedicels always shorter than bracts, 0.5-2.5 mm (longest towards base of inflorescence). Calyx 4-5 (-6.5) mm; lobes linear (usually) to narrowly oblong, acute to subacute. Corolla tube glabrous; tube of hermaphrodite flowers (4.2-) 5-5.5 (-7) x 1.5-2 mm, cylindric, longer than (usually) or equalling calyx; lobes white at anthesis. elliptic (usually narrowly), subacute to obtuse (posterior sometimes emarginate), suberect to recurved, equalling or shorter than corolla tube. Stamen filaments remaining erect, 1.3-1.7 mm (hermaphrodite flowers); anthers magenta, 0.9-1.5 (-2) mm; sterile anthers of female flowers magenta. Ovary conical, 2-2.5 mm; ovules 8-15 per locule; style 3-6 mm; stigma more conspicuous in female flowers. Capsules acute, 4-4.5 x 1.7-2.3 mm, loculicidal split extending 1/3-way to base. Seeds flattened, ellipsoid to discoid, brown, 0.7-1.1 x 0.6-0.9 mm, micropylar rim 0.2-0.3 mm.

Similar Taxa

Similar to V. murrelli (see notes under that species). It is also similar to V. kellowiae, in having shortly connate leaves, sterile bracts sometimes present at the base of inflorescences, and magenta anthers held at the mouth of the cylindrical corolla tube. V. petriei has longer corolla tube (5-5.5 mm) and calyx (4-5 mm) than V. kellowiae (2.8-3.5 mm and 2.5-4 mm respectively); V. petriei also usually has a simple terminal inflorescence with alternate bracts and pedicellate flowers, compared to V. kellowiae having a terminal inflorescence with opposite bracts and sessile flowers.

Flowering

(October-) December-February (-March)

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

(November-) March

Propagation Technique

Despite the similarities between V. petriei and V. kellowiae, the two are geographically disjunct, and analysis of ITS sequences (e.g. Wagstaff et al. 2002) does not suggest that they are closely related.

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).

This page last updated on 18 Dec 2019