T. KmK. — Descriptions of New Plants. 465 



, All the Otago specimens of Veronica hectori that I have seen are more 

 robust than those from the Canterbury and Nelson mountauas ; the length 

 of the capsule varies considerably. 



Notwithstanding the doubts I entertain of the claims of our plant to 

 specific honours, I have great pleasure in describing it under the name by 

 which it has become known to horticulturists. As it adapts itself to 

 artificial conditions more readily than any other species belonging to the 

 section (except perhaps V. ciqjressoides), and is easily recognized by its 

 flabellate branches, it will probably retain its name even if it should ulti- 

 mately be considered a form of V. salicornioides ; but it would have afforded 

 me greater pleasure to have attached the name of its discoverer to some 

 form more likely to prove of permanent specific value. 



The dimorphism in the foliage of aU the species characterized by 

 appressed leaves has not received the attention it merits. The spreading 

 leaves are easily produced under cultivation ; if the plants are kept in a 

 cool, shaded situation, they will be developed from the tips of branches 

 bearing appressed leaves as well as from all newly formed branches. In 

 V. cupressoides the free leaves are ovate, lobulate or nearly pinnatifid. There 

 can be little doubt that the free leaves are equally characteristic of the 

 seedling state of the plant, although I have been unable to find them in a 

 wild condition. 



Many of the New Zealand species of Veronica comprise a series of forms 

 capable of being recognized by the eye, especially when their minute 

 differences are exaggerated under the luxuriant growth induced by cultiva- 

 tion, but they pass into each other by insensible gradations, and are not 

 capable of rigid definition. In this respect they resemble Rosa canina, 

 Ruhus fruticosus, and Salix repens of Northern Europe ; and the trivial 

 varieties and sub-varieties of our Veronicas are no more worthy of being 

 elevated to specific rank than the varieties and sub-varieties of these 

 variable European plants. 



Plantagine^. 

 Plantago hamiltoni. 

 Stem very short. Leaves rosulate, ^"-l^"long, more or less clothed with 

 scattered jointed hairs, hnear lanceolate, toothed or nearly entire, narrowed 

 into a broad petiole, with shaggy hairs at the base. Scapes 1 -flowered, 

 crowded amongst the leaves, at first very short xb''-T6-" ^^^S (always ?) 

 elongating as the fruit matures ; sepals short, broad, obtuse ; corolla tube 

 narrow, lobes acute, spreading, ovary large, ovate. Capsule (always ?) 

 when ripe on an elongated scape f"-l" long, very large, fully ^"-jV hroad, 

 ovate, apiculate, glabrous, imperfectly 4-celled, cells 2-seeded. 



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