The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Veronica hookeri

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'.
hookeri: Named after Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (born 1817) - a world famous botanist who travelled on the Antarctic expedition of 1839 under the command of Sir James Ross and wrote "Handbook of New Zealand Flora" published in 1864-67 describing many specimens sent to Kew by collectors. He died in 1911 and has a memorial stone at Westminster Abbey London.

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 hookeri (Buchanan) Garn.-Jones

Family

Plantaginaceae

Brief Description

Low growing green leafless cross-shaped (in cross section) twigs inhabiting South Island mountains north of the Waitaki River. Leaves scale-like, narrow, overlapping, clasping stem, margin with pale hairs and tip with pale pit (lens needed for both). Flowers white, in clusters of 2-6 towards tips of twigs.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

LEOCIL

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Logania ciliolata Hook.f., Mitrasacme hookeri Buchanan, Veronica gilliesiana Kirk, Hebe ciliolata (Hook.f.) Cockayne et Allan; Leonohebe ciliolata (Hook.f.) Heads

Distribution

Mountains of South Island, chiefly on or west of the Main Divide, from near Boulder Lake, northwest Nelson, to the Ben Ohau Range, Canterbury, and possibly to Mt Alta, Otago.

Habitat

Grows on alpine rock outcrops, and boulder fields, often in exposed situations.

Features

Subshrub to 0.3 m tall, of semiwhipcord form. Branches decumbent; internodes 0.4-2 (-2.5) mm; branchlets, including leaves, 3-8.5 mm wide, cruciform in transvers section; connate leaf bases glabrous: leaves not readily abscising, persistent along the stem for some distance. Leaf bud tightly surrounded by recently diverged leaves. Leaves connate, appressed to erecto-patent; lamina narrow· oblong (above a broad base); venation not evident in fresh leaves; margin ciliate; lower surface dark green, glossy. Inflorescences with 2-6 flowers, lateral (obscuring vegetative tip when numerous), unbranched, 0.4-1 cm; peduncle 0.05-0.4 cm, hairy or glabrous; rachis glabrous or hairy. Bracts opposite and decussate, connate, deltoid or narrowly oblong, obtuse. Flowers male or female (on different plants). Pedicels absent or if evident then always shorter than bracts, 0-1 mm, glabrous or hairy. Calyx 2.3-3.5 mm; lobes deltoid or oblong (often narrowly so), obtuse. with mixed glandular and eglandular cilia, rarely hairy outside (especially toward base). Corolla tube glabrous; tube of male flowers 1.6-2.3 x 1.3-2 mm, Cylindric (or sometimes slightly expanded around middle), shorter than or equalling calyx: tube of female flowers 1.2-1.6 x 1.4-1.6 mm, funnelform and contracted at base (may also be expanded near middle), shorter than or equalling calyx; lobes white at anthesis, usually broadly ovate or rhomboid or obovate, obtuse, suberect to recurved, longer than corolla tube (often more markedly so in female flowers). Stamen filaments remaining erect, 0.4 -2.5 mm (female 0.4-1 mm: male 2-2.5 mm); anthers purple or magenta, 1.3-1.7 mm; sterile anthers of female flowers purple or magenta, 0.3--0.8 mm. Ovary ovoid or ellipsoid, 0.9-1.3 mm; ovules 5-10 per locule, in 2 vertical rows on placenta or scattered on a hemispherical placenta; style 1.5-2.7 mm (usually shorter in female flowers than male flowers); stigma larger in female flowers, with long, multicellular papillae (papillae on stigmas of male flowers are not prominent). Capsules angustiseptate, obtuse, 3-4.3 mm long, 1.6-3.3 mm thick, septicidal split extending ½ to all way to base (usually to base), loculicidal split extending 1/3-¾ wav to base. Seeds 0.3-1 (-1.3) mm.

Similar Taxa

A distinctive species, distinguished from other semi-whipcords by having leaves more or less oblong above a broad base and a more or less square leaf apex that usually has a small, sunken hydathode. It possibly intergrades, or hybridises, V. tumida at some localities (see notes for that species).

Flowering

(October-) November-February (-July)

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

January-Mar (-August)

Chromosome No.

2n = 42

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

Yes

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Seeds are dispersed by ballistic projection, wind and water (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 13 Nov 2019