384 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



This species may be taken as a type of the semi-herbaceous 

 section of the genus. The flowers are very pretty, the petals 

 being white, spotted with dark-red at the entrance to the 

 throat. The species is often cultivated, particularly in gardens . 

 in and around Dunedin. These, and the allied species, 

 approach more closely to the European forms, than do the 

 other Now Zealand veronicas, It is strange, however, that 

 they should be separated from their congeners by a hemi- 

 sphere, for the veronicas do not grow in the tropics. It is 

 difficult to say if the veronicas covered at one time all the 

 intervening area, or whether they have spread from north to 

 south, or south to north. Certainly, the greater development 

 of the genus in the south, lends some colour to the latter 

 surmise, but general opinion has regarded northern forms as 

 coming south, and not vice vorsa. 



Genus Ourisia. 



Alpine herbs with perennial roots. Calyx 5-lobed ; corolla 5-cleft ; stamens 4. 

 Capsule 2-valved. (Named in honour of Ouris, a French Governor of the 

 Falklands). 8 sp. 



Ourisia macrophylla (The Large-leaved Ourisia). 



Stem erect. Leaves all from the roots, hairy, 1 in. -6 in. long. Flower-stem 

 2 in. -30 in. in height. Flowers in umbels. Corolla in. long. Capsule J in. 

 long. Both islands : mountain ranges. Fl. Jan. -Feb. 



Ourisia caespitosa (The Tufted Ourisia) 



Stem creeping. Leaves opposite, numerous, round, ^ in. across. Flower- 

 stem 2 in. -4 in. long, 1 in. -6 in. flowered. Corolla in. -^ in. across, white, 

 Capsule & in. long. Both islands : Ruahine Mountains, Southern Alps, Otago. 

 Fl. Feb.-March. 



Ourisia gland ulosa (The Glandular Ourisia), 



A small, stout herb. Leaves closely imbricating, ^in.-lin. long, ^ in. -fin. 

 hroad, thickly covered with rough glandular hairs. Flower-stems 1 in. -2 in. long. 

 Flowers 1 in. -3 in., white, in.-f in. across. South Island: Mt. Sealy, Southern 

 Alps, Otago Lake district. Fl. Jan. -Feb. 



A genus of distinctly Antarctic distribution, found in the 

 mountains of Tasmania, New Zealand, South America and 



