944 VERONIGA SALICIFOLIA,. : 
The koromiko has long been valued for its beneficial effects in case: 
diarrheea and dysentery, and will probably take its place in the pharmac 
as a recognised remedy for diseases of this class. Bushmen troubled with 
English choles frequently cure the disease by chewing fresh leaves of the plant 
aid swallowing the juice; but usually the drug is taken in the form of an infu sion, 
It is kept in Sh by the leading druggists in ene colony. 
All the forms of this species are easily cultivated, and add largely te the 
charms of the flower-border and shrubbery. ' | 1 
The leaves of the young plant are sometimes sharply toothed, 
DisTRIBUTION OF THE GENUS. 
The genus Veronica comprises upwards of two hundred species, of w 
about tly. species are found in New Zealand: the others are most riontifal al i 
Europe and temperate Asia, being comparatively rare in other counter ries. 
About fourteen species arc found in Australia, two or three of cel are 
naturalised. : 
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SPECIES. z 
Veronica salicifolia is endemic in New Zealand: it occurs on the Kerma ae ‘ 
Islands, and from the North Cape to Stewart Island, being found in ‘every 
district. It usually grows in open places or on the margins of wade and gulli a 
and is most plentiful in lowland situations. It ascends from the sea-level to 
about 2,300it. 
On southern specimens the leaves and racemes are usually narrower | 
longer than on northern specimens, but there are many exceptions. 
The var. gracilis has only been obseryed on the Bluff Hill, Southland, 
where it forms a-tree 2oft. high. 
cL os 
DESCRIPTION. 
Veronica salicifolia, Forst. 
A much-branched glabrous shrub or small tree, 5ft. to 2oft. high. Branch es 
and leaves glabrous. Gecies opposite, 2in. to 6in. ie sessile, linear-lanceok 
ot oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, entire or, rarely, with a few dist nt 
serratures. Racemes 31n. to roi. long, axillary, Sbrens or puberulous. Bide wets 
very numerous; pedicels stout ; sepals, four, abiond: obtuse; corolla-tube sho ort, 
limb with four spreading lobes; stamens two; ovary two-celled, compresset a 
style exceeding the filaments. Fruit, a two- celled capsule, eae longer than 
the sepals, ovate, acute, compressed. Seeds numerous, minute. 
Var. gracilis. Leaves broadly lanceolate, shortly petioled. Racemes \ ery 
slender, jin. to fin. long. Sepals acute, ciliated; corolla very large; stamens 
shortly exserted; capsule less compressed. 
EXPLANATION OF PLatE CXNX. 
Veronica salicifolia, lorst., var. gracilis. Flowering specimen, nett Sie 
1. Flower, 2, Corolla, laid open. Both magnified. 3. Dehiscing capsule. 
natural size. 4. The same, magnified. 
