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54. V. salicornioides, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 212.—A small much-branched shrub 1–3 ft. high; branches strict, erect, terete, clothed with imbricating leaves, $1⁄14$–$1⁄12$ in. diam., yellowish-brown when dry. Leaves most densely imbricated and appressed to the branch, opposite pairs connate to considerably above the middle and forming a ring surrounding the branch, $1⁄15$–$1⁄16$ in. long, subacute or almost truncate, concave in front, rounded at the back; margins usually ciliolate. Leaves of young plants not seen. Flowers 4–8 towards the tips of the branchlets. forming small terminal heads; rhachis villous. Bracts short and broad, ciliolate. Calyx-segments oblong, obtuse, margins ciliolate. Corolla white, ¼ in. diam.; tube short; limb 4-lobed, lobes spreading. Capsule longer than the calyx, subcompressed, oblong, obtuse, glabrous.—''Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 352; N. E. Brown in Gard. Chron.'' (1888) vol. i. p. 20, f. 3.

55. V. Armstrongii, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xi. (1879) 464.—A small much-branched shrub 1–3 ft. high; branches spreading, often flabellate; branchlets very numerous, slender, terete, clothed with appressed imbricating leaves, $1⁄16$–$1⁄12$ in. diam. Leaves of mature plants closely imbricating, appressed but not very closely so, about $1⁄10$ in. long, opposite pairs connate for the greater part of their length, forming a sheath investing the branch which is wider at the top than the base, and thus almost obconic in shape, truncate or nearly so at the apex, tumid and coriaceous, smooth and rounded on the back, margins usually ciliolate. Leaves of young plants (frequently produced by reversion on old ones as well) spreading, $1⁄10$–$1⁄8$ in. long, linear, acute, flat, entire or irregularly lobulate. Flowers ⅕–¼ diam., white, 4–8 or more towards the tips of the branchlets, forming small terminal heads; rhachis villous. Calyx-segments unequal, oblong, obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla-tube short, about equalling the calyx; lobes spreading. Capsule ⅙ in. long,