XXX 



THE SHRUBBY VERONICAS 



Veronica angustifolia . ( . ^ Narrow-leaved Veronica 

 anomala 



buxifolia . .'.-.' Box-leaved Veronica 



cupressoides . . . Cypress-like Veronica 



salicifolia ..'_ . . Willow-leaved Veronica 



Traversii Travers's Veronica 



1 



1HE Shrubby Veronicas, like the olearias, are 

 New Zealand's gift to the Old World. Veroni- 

 cas as herbs have an almost world-wide range, 

 but the big shrubby Veronicas are the exclusive pro- 

 duct as natives of that country. (There is only one 

 exception V. elliptica which is found wild also in 

 the Falkland Islands and South America, but may 

 possibly have been introduced there.) Indeed, Veroni- 

 cas as a class herbs and shrubs together form a 

 large portion, and often a singularly beautiful portion, 

 of the New Zealand flora, for the Veronica genus is 

 far and away the largest of any found there; some 

 two hundred species are comprised within its New 

 Zealand limits. 



The shrubby Veronicas are, for the most part, shrubs 

 of the hills, and constitute a major part of that dense 



scrub that there fences the tree-bearing regions from the 



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