Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/569

Veronica.] A well-marked plant, the only near ally of which is the following species, which may prove to be a form of it.

48. V. quadrifaria, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 521.—Habit, size, and general appearance of V. tetrasticha, but the branchlets are more slender and wiry, about $1⁄15$ in. diam. with the leaves on, tetragonous with the faces flat, not concave. Leaves most densely quadrifariously imbricated, opposite pairs very shortly connate at the base and forming a ring clasping the branch, closely appressed, $1⁄18$–$1⁄16$ in. long, broadly triangular, acute or subacute, coriaceous, concave in front, rounded on the back, not keeled; margins ciliolate towards the base or throughout their whole length. Flowers small, white, $1⁄10$ in. diam., arranged in very short axillary 2–4-flowered spikes, the spikes usually capitate at the tip of tiie branchlets. Calyx 4-partite ahnost to the base; segments linear-oblong, obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla-tube short, equalling the calyx; lobes 4, rounded, spreading. Stamens 2; filaments short. Ovary seated in a cupular disc. Capsule twice as long as the calyx, oblong-obovoid, compressed, obtuse.—Mitrasacme Cheesemanii, ''Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xiv. (1882) 348, t. 29, f. 2.

49. V. tumida, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 521.—A prostrate or decumbent much-branched plant forming broad depressed patches 6–18 in. diam.; branches very numerous, obtusely tetragonous, with the leaves on $1⁄12$–$1⁄10$ in. diam., black when dry. Leaves densely imbricated, opposite pairs connate at the base, $1⁄15$–$1⁄12$ in. long, broadly ovate-deltoid, tumid, obtuse, concave in front, rounded or obtusely keeled at the back, margins ciliolate. Flowers in 2–4 flowered abbreviated spikes at the ends of the branchlets, small, ⅛–⅙ in. diam., white. Calyx deeply 4-partite; segments linear-oblong, obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla-tube short; limb with 4 nearly equal spreading oblong obtuse lobes. Stamens 2, included; anthers almost as long as the filaments. Ovary seated in a cupular disc. Capsule exceeding the calyx, subcompressed. broadly oblong, obtuse.

Nelson—Gordon's Nob and St. Arnaud Mountains, Monro, T. F. C.; Mount Rintoul and Ben Nevis, F. G. Gibbs! Mount Starveall, W. H. Bryant! Mount Richmond, J. H. Macmahon! Otago—''Herb. Buchanan!'' (exact locality not stated). 3000–5000 ft. December–February.