Tab. 7370. 



VERONICA AMPLEXICAULIS. 



Native of New Zealand. 



Nat. Ord. Scrophulabine*:.— Tribe Digitaleje. 

 Genus Veronica, Linn. ; (Benth. & Hooh.f. Gen. Plant, vol. ii. p. 964) 



Vebonica (Hebe) amplexicaulis ; fruticulus erectus, r ^ i % 8Ubr ±^hn<,°^ e 

 atro, foliis decussatim oppositis quadnfanam j^" ^ 1 ^ 6 . 881 ^^ ^ g 

 ceis late oblongis concavis utrinque rotundatis v. basi subcordatis 

 glaucis enerviis et ecarinatis, pedunculis axillanbus folna longioritras 

 robustis pubescentibus spicaa 1 v. 3 breves multi-densinoras g^entibus, 

 floribus oppositis parvis albis, bracteis oblongis obtusis ciliatis calycem 

 stantibus, sepalis lineari-oblongis obtusia cihatia, corolla tubo calyce 

 incluso, limbi lobo dorsali erecto ovato-oblongo obtuso, ceteris decurvia 

 linear! oblongis obtusis, filamentis longe exsertis, anthens cceruleis, ovano 

 apice hirtello. 



V. amplexicaulis, Armstrong in Trans. N. Zeald. Institute, vol. xiii. (1880), 

 p. 352. 



The subject of this plate is another of the hardy New 

 Zealand evergreen shrubby Speedwells. Its nearest ally 

 is V. pinguifolia, Hook, f., from which it differs in the 

 much larger, broader leaves, which are rounded or sub- 

 cordate at the base. It appears to be a very local plant, 

 there being no recorded locality for it but the Alps ot the 

 Canterbury Province, where it was discovered by its de- 

 scribe^ Mr. Armstrong, and from whence dried specimens 

 were sent to Kew in 1887 by Mrs. Hetley. The specimen 

 figured was kindly sent bv Dr. Balfour, from the Edinburgh 

 Botanical Gardens in June, 1893, and the capsule in 

 August of the same year. The species has been in cultiva- 

 tion there and at Kew and elsewhere for a good many 

 years, flowering annually in June, and is like its New 

 Zealand dwarf fruiticose allies, perfectly hardy. 



D escr . — An erect or decumbent shrub, 1-2 ft. high, 

 branching from the base; branches about as thick as a 

 crow-quill, bark nearly black, branchlets green, puberulous. 

 Leaves f-1 in. long, sessile, quadrifariously imbricate, 

 elliptic-oblong, rounded at both ends, or base cordate, 

 concave, very coriaceous, glaucous, nerveless, and not 



August 1st, 1894. 



