The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Veronica macrocalyx var. macrocalyx

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'.
macrocalyx: From the Greek macros 'large' and calyx

Common Name(s)

Hebe

Current Conservation Status

2012 - 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

2009 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon
2004 - Range Restricted

Qualifiers

2012 - DP, Sp

Authority

Veronica macrocalyx J.B.Armstr. var macrocalyx

Family

Plantaginaceae

Brief Description

Low growing shrub with erect twigs bearing pairs of small curved green thick fleshy oval leaves that hardly narrow to a broad leaf stalk inhabiting northern Arthurs Pass mountains. Leaves to 11 mm long, longer than wide. Flowers white, almost hidden by long narrow teeth of base.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Veronica haastii var. macrocalyx (J.B.Armstr.) Cheeseman, Hebe macrocalyx var. macrocalyx (J.B.Armstr.) G.Simpson, Hebe haastii var. macrocalyx (J.B.Armstr.) Cockayne et Allan, Leonohebe haastii var. macrocalyx (J.B.Armstr.) Heads

Distribution

Near Arthur's Pass. Canterbury, South Island, between Mount Alexander in the north and upper Bealey Valley in the south.

Habitat

It grows on alpine rock debris and scree.

Features

Mat-forming subshrub to 20 cm tall, 1 m diameter. Branches prostrate to decumbent, old stems brown; branchlets green to purplish, glabrous or puberulent, hairs bifarious; internodes 1-5.5 (-10.9) mm; leaves not readily abscising, persisting on stem, or decaying leaving basal parts attached. Leaf bud tightly surrounded by recently diverged leaves. Leaves decussate to slightly subdistichous, connate, erecto-patent to patent; lamina usually spathulate or elliptic to ovate, fleshy, concave, 5-16 x (2.5-) 3.5-9 mm; apex rounded to slightly retuse; midrib slightly thickened below and slightly depressed to grooved above; margins green or colourless smoothly cartilaginous, entire, not thickened, glabrous or glandular-ciliate, sometimes tinged red, entire or rarely shallowly toothed; upper surface green, dull to glossy, with many stomata, glabrous; lower surface green, dull to glossy; petiole (1-) 2-5 mm, hairy along margins. Inflorescences with 2-12 flowers per spike, 3-12 spikes per flowering head, terminal and lateral (arranged, often laxly, in a flowering head), unbranched, (0.5-) 1-3 (-4.3) cm (total length of flowering head), spikes about equal to subtending leaves (flowering head usually longer than subtending leaves); peduncle approximately 0.1 cm, hairy or glabrous; rachis 0.3-0.4 (-0.6) cm (longest when growing in shade). Bracts lowermost pair opposite, then subopposite or alternate above, connate or rarely free, lanceolate to linear or sometimes deltoid, subacute (usually) or obtuse, margins glabrous or hairy. Flowers hermaphrodite or female (on different plants). Pedicels absent. Calyx 5-9 mm, 4-5-lobed (5th lobe small, posterior); lobes green, linear (usually) or oblong, subacute to obtuse or occasionally acute, with minute mixed glandular and eglandular cilia (usually) or glabrous. Corolla tube glabrous; tube of hermaphrodite flowers (2.5-) 4-6 x 1.5-2.5 mm, cylindric, shorter to longer than calyx (sometimes); tube of female flowers 3-4 x 1.5-2.2 mm, funnelform, shorter than calyx; lobes white at anthesis, ovate (usually) to elliptic, subacute to obtuse, patent to recurved (with age), shorter than (usually) to longer than (rarely) corolla tube. Stamen filaments remaining erect, 0.5-1.3 mm; anthers magenta, 1-1.9 mm; sterile anthers of female flowers white, 0.8 -1.1 mm. Ovary narrowly ovoid to conical, 2-2.5 mm; ovules 18-28 per locule, in 1-3 layers; style 3-8 mm on hermaphrodite flowers, 5-6 mm on female flowers; stigma larger in female flowers. Capsules acute to subacute, 3.5-4.5 (-5.5) x 2-3.5 mm, loculicidal split extending ¼-½-way to base. Seeds flattened, ellipsoid or more or less discoid, straw-yellow, 0.7-1 x 0.5-0.9 mm, micropylar rim 0.1-0.3 mm.

Similar Taxa

Distinguished from V. haastii, in which it was included by Cheeseman (1906) and Moore (in Allan 1961), by its: bright green, fleshy, petiolate and often subdistichous leaves; sometimes lax flowering head; usually linear calyx lobes; narrow acute capsule. V. var. macrocalyx is relatively uniform in morphology, all specimens having bright green, spathulate leaves with cartilaginous leaf margins and green, linear calyx lobes. V. var. humilis is more variable in terms of leaf shape (elliptic or rhomboidal to spathulate), leaf margins (smooth to papillose or erose), and calyx shape and length (lanceolate to linear). The species commonly grows near V. epacridea.

Flowering

(September-) November-March

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

(November-) December-April (-October)

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 13 Nov 2019