Veronica. | SCROPHULARINES. 521 
buriensis as having membranous leaves and the racemes in pairs at the end of 
the branches, so that probably he had var. gracilis in mind when he described 
the species; but for many years he applied the name to the typical form in the 
Botanical Gardens at Christchurch. 
34. V. obovata, 7’. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ix. (1877) 502.— 
An erect sparingly branched glabrous shrub 4-6 ft. high ; branches 
stout, erect, ringed with the scars of the fallen leaves. Leaves 
shortly petioled, erect or suberect, laxly imbricating, 3-1 in. long, 
itin. broad, narrow-obovate, obtuse, gradually narrowed into the 
short broad flat petiole, slightly concave when fresh, thick and 
coriaceous, margins entire. Racemes 2 or 3 near the tips of the 
branches, 1-2 in. long, slender, erect, lax-flowered ; rhachis puberu- 
lous; pedicels short ; bracts small, ovate, acute. Flowers white, 
tin. diam. Calyx 4-partite; segments ovate-oblong, obtuse. 
Corolla-tube short and broad, hardly longer than the calyx ; limb 
4-jobed ; lobes spreading, oblong, obtuse. Ripe capsules not seen. 
Soutu Istanp: Canterbury—Broken River, Kirk ! Mount Cook district, 
T. F.C. Otago—Upper Hawea, Petrie! Mount Karnslaw, Cockayne ! 2000- 
4500 ft. 
The above description is based on Kirk’s type specimens from the Broken 
River. My own specimens from the Mount Cook district, and Petrie’s and 
‘Cockayne's from Otago, have rather smaller and less obovate leaves and longer 
racemes, and may be referable to V. monticola, if, indeed, the two species should 
not be combined. 
30. V. monticola, Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xii. (1881) 
304.— A much-branched glabrous shrub 2-5 ft. high; branches 
erect or spreading, densely leafy above, ringed with the scars of 
the fallen leaves below; bark brown. Leaves close-set, more or 
less imbricate, suberect or spreading, 3-lin. long, 14in. broad, 
obovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, obtuse or subacute, narrowed 
into a very short thick petiole, thick and coriaceous, slightly con- 
cave above, somewhat rounded but not keeled beneath; midrib 
impressed beneath when dry. Racemes near the tips of the 
branches, longer than the leaves, 1-ldin. long, dense - flowered ; 
rhachis puberulous; pedicels very short, stout; bracts ovate- 
lanceolate, subacute. Flowers white, +in. diam. Calyx deeply 4-par- 
tite; segments oblong-ovate, obtuse or subacute. Corolla - tube 
short and broad, barely longer than the calyx; limb 4-lobed; lobes 
ovate, spreading. Capsule ovate-oblong, acute, about twice as long 
as the calyx. 
SourH Istanp: Mountain districts from Nelson to Otago, not uncommon. 
2000-4500 ft. December-February. 
This is the plant to which the name of levis is usually applied in the 
South Island, but I believe erroneously, the true Jevis having smaller and 
more rigid keeled leaves and a corymbose inflorescence. It agrees with an 
authentic specimen of V. monticola in Kirk’s herbarium, but differs in several 
