See CKa. amuse. Lo: 929: 465 
Sq. aa + #—-47. 
Pero RraSss fae Dari fice an ra: i 16 tate — 228, 
Veronica, | SCROPHULARIACEAE. 77 
| ‘ Roemer ~ rg: +Y 
montane or pi rae them descending below 1000 ft” altitude ; ; 17 are both 
lowland and montane ; 14 are pureiy lowland, but do not evince any special predilection 
for the sea-coast ; while 13 are never seen far from the sea. 
Veronica presents great difficulties to the systematist. Many of the species are 
singularly protean in habit, foliage, and inflorescence, varying so much in appearance 
that it is no easy matter to fix their real limits. Intermediate forms are numerous, 
connecting species that would otherwise appear most distinct, and in not a few cases 
these intermediates blend so freely into one another that an apparently continuous 
series of forms is produced, while several species hybridize so readily in cultivation that 
the supposition at once arises that natural hybrids may also occur. So great has been 
the difficultv in deciding what are the limits of the species, and in properly characterizing 
be 
VERONICA Linn = HEBE (Juss) Pennell. it 
he 
Distinetion between Hebe and Veronica:- 
ies 
",,.The capsule déehisces septicidally, i) 
the thick septum splitting and he 
each carpel opening distally by a 
median slit through the septal ly, 
wall. i 
The leaves are always opposite, ge 
and after falling leave more or ‘ch 
less conspicuous scars. dy 
The flowers are usually in axillary i 
racemes, but these may be greatly ved 
reduced, spicate, or corymbose. ee 
All are ever-green shrubs, or in a ite 
few’ cases, treeS ws..." pe 
ion 
see T.N.Z.I. Vol. 56 - pp. &4. a 
(Cockayne and Allan). ted 
“of 
‘LUS WULEK, W1ULL SUUIL UDViIaUIULD aS UU prygiucg VA UN NURy wee umL warwave OF 
botanical science have rendered advisable. The great activity. with which the genus 
has been studied of late years has naturally led to a considerable increase in the 
number of the species, the 84 species of 1906 having now advanced to 103. The 
arrangement and limitation of the species, and the preparation of the necessary 
diagnoses, has proved to be a most difficult and perplexing task, and I am far from 
satisfied with the result. But, imperfect though it may be, it represents many months’ 
assiduous study, and the examination of some thousands of specimens, and is, at any 
rate, an honest effort to clear away some of the difficulties which impede the study of 
the genus. 
Students using the conspectus should bear in mind that the characters employed 
are in many cases arbitrary ones selected to show how the dominant forms of a certain 
species differ from those of another species, and do not always include the entire range 
of variation of a species. Plants like V. salicifolia, macrocarpa, parviflora, Traversii, 
huxifotia, pinguifolia, &c., which run into numberless varieties, are probably quite 
incapable of rigid definition. 
It should be mentioned that several species from the Northern Hemisphere have 
become naturalized in New Zealand, the most abundant being V’. serpyllifolia, V. arvensis, 
V. agrestis, and V. persica. Descriptions of these will be found in any British Flora. 
