Platk 156.— veronica MACRANTHA. 



Family SCROPHULARIACE^.] [Genus VERONICA, Linn. 



Veronica macrantha, Hook. j. Hiimlh. A'.Z. ^7. 21o ; CheeKeni. Man. N.Z. Fl. 5.j7. 



Veronica macrantha is not a large-growing species, and its habit of growth is 

 bv no means as attractive as that of many others ; but nevertheless, when seen 

 in full flower, there are few species of the genus that present a more charming 

 appearance. In the Mount Cook district, where it is most abundant, the sight 

 of a rocky slope covered with multitudes of its pure-white flowers is a spectacle 

 not easily paralleled and not likely to be readily forgotten. 



Mr. W. T. L. Travers and Sir Julius von Haast were the first to observe 

 V. macrantha. Where Mr. Travers gathered it I do not know, but Haast's locality 

 is given as grassy hillsides in the Southern Alps, sources of the Waitaki. &c. Since 

 its first discovery it has been proved to have a fairly extensive range in 

 alp'ne districts in the South Island, but it is often local, and seldom extends 

 far from the central chain of tlie Scmthern Alps. The most northern k)cality known 

 to me is Mount Arthur and Mount Peel, where I have found it not uncommon. 

 I have also gathered it on the Wairau Mountains, the Upper Clarence River. 

 Lake Tennyson, and Arthur's Pass. From thence it seems to stretch southwards 

 along the central chain to the Mount Cook district, the mountains at the head 

 of Lake Hawea and l^ake Wanaka, and as far south as the head of Lake Te 

 Anau and the Clinton Vallev. Its altitudinal range appears to be from 2, .500 ft. 

 to 5,500 ft. 



F. macrantha is seldom more than 2 ft. in height, and is often much less ; the 

 branches are few in number, erect or spreading, and are bare of leaves except 

 towards the top. The leaves are usually obovate, from -| in. to 1 in. in length, and 

 are obtuselv serrate. The racemes are axillary, 3-8- flowered ; and the flowers, 

 which are larger than in any other New Zealand species, are | in. in diameter, and 

 pure white. Usually the plant is found on steep and more or less rocky slopes, 

 mixed witli subalpine scrub of no great height — species of Olearia, Senecio, Coprosma, 

 Acifhylla, Ligusticum, &c. In some of the valleys in the Mount Cook district it 

 forms a considerable proportion of the vegetation. 



As a species V. macrantha is allied to the magnificent V. Benthami of 

 the Auckland and Campbell Islands, the only species found in the New Zealand 

 area which has conspicuous blue flowers. But V. Benthami is more copiously 

 branched, the leaves are larger, narrower, and are margined with white dowii, the 

 racemes are longer and bear more numerous flowers, and the flowers are usually 

 5-merous, whereas they are always 4-merous in F. macrantha. The difference in 

 the colour of the flowers in the two species is also noteworthy. 



Plate l.od Veronica niacruitllui. dvawn fioui sjjcciinriis c<illected in tlu' Hooker Valley, Mount 

 Cook district, at an altitude of 4,000 ft. Fig. 1, part of leaf (x b) ; 2. calyx, with bract at it.s base 

 (X 2) ; 3, section of calyx, showing ovary and style (x 3) ; 4, corolla laid open (x2); 5, trans- 

 verse section of ovary (x .5) ; fi, ripe capsule, with the calyx removed (x 3). 



