530 SCROPHULARINEX. [ Veronica. 
Nearest to V. tetrasticha, from which it is separated without any difficulty 
by the obtusely tetragonous branchlets, tumid obtuse leaves, and broader shorter 
capsule. Mr. N. EH. Brown informs me that the specimens quoted in the 
Handbook under V. tetragona from Gordon’s Nob (Monro) and Waiau-au 
Valley (Travers) in reality belong to this species. ‘ 
50. V. tetragona, Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 580.—A small usually 
erect much-branched shrub 6in. to 3ft. high; stems ringed with 
the scars of the fallen pede branches stout, rigid, erect, obtusely 
4-angled when adult, 4,4 in. ‘diam. Leaves most densely quadri- 
Bey imbricated, erect, opposite pairs connate at the base, 
gaa in. long, broadly deltoid- ovate, obtuse, keeled at the back, 
very thick and coriaceous, smooth and shining, margins and base 
usually ciliolate or woolly. Flowers 3-8, sessile side the upper- 
most leaves and forming small terminal heads, 4 44 in. diam., white. 
Bracts conspicuously furrowed, woolly at the base. Calyx- -segments 
unequal, linear-oblong, obtuse, furrowed. Corolla 4-lobed; lobes 
spreading, dorsal the largest, obovate, entire or emarginate, anticous 
the smallest, narrow-oblong. Capsule broadly oblong, subacute, 
compressed, exceeding the calyx.—Raoul, Choiz, 43; Hook. f. Fl. 
Nov. Zel.i. 194; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 211; Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. 
Inst. xiii. (1881) 351. V. subsimilis, Col. im Trans. N.Z. Inst. 
XXxi. (1899) 278. 
NortH Istanp: Mountain districts from Mount Hikurangi and Tongariro 
southwards to the Tararua Range, abundant. 2000-5500 ft. December-— 
February. 
A very remarkable species. Flowerless specimens so closely resemble a 
Podocarpus or Dacrydium that Sir W. J. Hooker had a plate prepared for the 
‘‘Tcones Plantarum’’ under the name of Podocarpus Dieffenbachii. I have 
seen no specimens from the South Island, and it is now quite certain that most 
(if not all) of the South Island localities assigned to the species in the 
Handbook belong to other species. 
51. V. lycopodioides, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 211.—A stout 
much-branched shrub 1-4 it. high; branches rigid, erect, clothed 
with densely imbricating leaves, acutely or obtusely 4-angled when 
adult, bin. diam. Leaves dimorphic, the adult state most 
densely (nates ee Le the opposite pairs connate at 
the base, ;4,—745 in. long, 754 in. broad, very broadly ovate-deltoid, 
concave in front, keeled on the back, suddenly narrowed into a 
stout obtuse cusp or point, very coriaceous, smooth or more or less 
distinctly grooved on the back, margins glabrous or ciliolate. 
lueaves of young plants (frequently found by reversion on older 
ones as well) twice as long as the mature ones, spreading, linear- 
subulate with a broad base, entire or more frequently irregularly 
lobed or almost pectinate-pinnatifid. Flowers crowded at the tips 
of the branches, forming small terminal heads, }in. diam., white. 
Bracts furrowed, ciliolate. Calyx-segments unequal, oblong. 
Corolla-tube about equal to the calyx; lobes 4, spreading, the 
