Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/573

Veronica.] about twice as long as the calyx, oblong-ovoid, compressed, obtuse or slightly retuse.—''Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 352; Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xxxi. (1899) 396, t. 28, 29.

56. V. propinqua, Cheesem. n. sp.—A small much-branched shrub 1–3 ft. high; branches spreading, sometimes decumbent or tortuous; branchlets numerous, slender, about $1⁄20$ in. diam. Leaves of mature plants densely imbricated, the opposite pairs connate for the greater part of their length, each pair forming a closed sheath round the branch $1⁄10$–$1⁄8$ in. long, the lower part of which is adnate to the branch, the upper part free and somewhat expanded, the free tips of the leaves very short, obtusely triangular, thick and coriaceous; margins ciliolate. Leaves of young plants free, linear or spathulate, entire or irregularly lobulate-pinnatifid. Flowers ⅕–¼ in. diam., white, 4–8 near the tips of the branchlets, forming small terminal heads; rhachis villous. Calyx small; segments linear-oblong, obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla-tube about equalling the calyx; lobes spreading, unequal, the dorsal the largest. Capsule nearly twice as long as the calyx, about ⅛ in. long, ovoid, compressed, obtuse.—V. salicornioides, ''Hort. (not of Hook. f.)''. V. cupressoides var. variabilis, ''N. E. Brown in Gard. Chron. (1888) vol. i. 20, f. 5 (exclude F).''

57. V. cupressoides, ''Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 212.—A much and closely branched round-topped shrub 3–6 ft. high; branches divaricating; branchlets numerous, green, very slender, $1⁄30$ in. diam. or less, terete, very minutely puberulous or glabrous, clothed with decussate scale-like leaves resembling those of a cypress. Leaves of mature plants in rather remote pairs, considerably shorter than the internodes, $1⁄20$–$1⁄15$ in. long, not broader than the branch, ovate-oblong, obtuse, opposite pairs connate at the base, appressed or patent, rather fleshy, glabrous or minutely ciliolate. Leaves of young plants (often produced by reversion on the branches of old