2 



it appears to be replaced by the very closely allied F. Astoni, a plant which many 

 botanists will prefer to consider a variety only. In the " Handbook " several 

 localities were recorded from the South Island, but no specimens have been 

 obtained therefrom in late years. 



V. tetragona is a small branching shrub, usually forming a round-topped bush 

 1 ft. to 3 ft. in height. The branches are stout and erect, and are densely clothed 

 with short and thick closely appressed scale-like leaves, which being opposite and 

 decussate give the branch a tetragonous appearance. The flowers are white or 

 nearly so, and are sessile amongst the uppermost leaves, forming small terminal 

 heads. In young plants the leaves are much longer and narrower, linear-subulate 

 with a broad base, and are not nearly so closely appressed. I have not seen the 

 leaves of seedlings, and cannot say whether they show any approach to those of 

 V. lycopodioides, in which they are frequently lobed or pinnatifid. 



It may here be remarked that all the species of the section to which 

 V. tetragona belongs, so far as they have been investigated, have in their juvenile 

 state leaves differing very greatly from those of the adult, and always much 

 exceeding them in size. They are not appressed, but spread outwards, and 

 they usually jjossess a more or less well-defined petiole and lamina. They thus 

 approach the ordinary leaf-form of the genus, from which the leaves of the mature 

 plant have so greatly departed. These juvenile leaves may under favourable 

 circumstance appear on adult plants, or they may be caused to appear by 

 cultivating the plant in a moist chamber. As they must be regarded as more 

 primitive than the mature leaves, they probably give us some insight into 

 the phylogeny of the whipcord Veronicas, and show that in all probability 

 they have been derived from ancestors which possessed foliage much better 

 developed than their present representatives. For further particulars the 

 student should refer to papers by Kirk and Cockayne in the " Transactions of 

 the New Zealand Institute," and to several of Dr. Goebel's works. 



In several of the whipcord Veronicas the juvenile form of the foliage 

 persists for several years. Thus near the base of Ruapehu, and on the 

 saddle between it and Ngauruhoe, I noticed quite a considerable number of 

 fairly large plants of V. tetragona still retaining their juvenile foliage, and 

 showing no trace of the mature stage. These plants were mixed with others 

 covered with the short appressed and scale -like leaves of the adult, some of 

 these latter being much smaller than those retaining the juvenile leaves. 

 A branch from one of the plants still clothed with juvenile leaves is figured 

 in the lower corner of this plate. 



Plate 153. Veronica tetragona, drawn from specimens collected at the base of Mount Ruapehu, 

 at an altitude of 3,000 ft. Fig. 1, portion of branchlet, allowing arrangement of the leaves (x 4) ; 

 2, inner face of leaf (x -4) ; 3, bract (x 4) ; 4 and 5, different views of a flower (x 4) ; 6, section 

 of calyx, showing ovary and style (x 4) ; 7, corolla laid open (x 6) ; 8 and 9, front and back view 

 of anther ; 10, capsule ( x 3). 



