Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Veronica pimeleoides Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 195 (1853)
Synonymy:
  • Hebe pimeleoides var. rupestris Cockayne & Allan, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 57: 39 (1926) nom. illeg.
  • Hebe pimeleoides (Hook.f.) Cockayne & Allan, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 57: 38 (1926)
Holotype: Port Cooper, New Zealand, Lyall, K [sprigs mounted in the upper right hand corner of a sheet that includes several other collections. As noted by Cockayne & Allan (1926), and Moore (in Allan 1961), Hebe pimeleoides is not known from the type locality (Port Cooper, a name formerly used for Lyttelton), as given on the Lyall specimen (the holotype) cited by Hooker (1853). Cockayne & Allan (1926) noted that Lyall and others made an excursion inland to near what is now Culverden, and suggested that the specimen may have been collected at that time]
  • = Veronica glauca-caerulea J.B.Armstr., N.Z. Ctry. J. 3: 57 (1879)
  • Veronica pimeleoides var. glauca-caerulea (J.B.Armstr.) Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 527 (1906)
  • Hebe pimeleoides var. glauco-caerulea (J.B.Armstr.) Cockayne et Allan, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 57: 38 (1926)
  • Hebe glauca-caerulea (J.B.Armstr.) Cockayne, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 60: 471 (1929)
Lectotype (designated by Kellow et al. 2003): Clyde and Rangitata Vallies [sic], J. F. Armstrong, 1869, CHR 635823
Etymology:
The epithet pimeleoides refers to the similarity to plants of Pimelea (Thymelaeaceae). V. pimeleoides plants resemble P. prostrata and similar species.
 Description

Low sub-shrub or small, bushy shrub to 0.9 m tall. Stems prostrate to erect, eglandular-pubescent or glabrous; hairs bifarious to uniform. Leaf bud distinct, its leaves appressed at margins until fully grown; sinus absent or small, narrow, and acute. Leaves opposite-decussate, erecto-patent to spreading; lamina sub-coriaceous to coriaceous, linear-elliptic to lanceolate to ovate or elliptic to sub-orbicular, 2.0–15.5 mm long, 0.7–8.7 mm long, dull, glaucous above and beneath, sometimes red-mottled; veins not evident or midrib slightly raised beneath; surfaces glabrous or sometimes one or both pubescent; margin glabrous or rarely minutely ciliolate, entire; apex acute to sub-acute or rarely obtuse; base cuneate; petiole absent or indistinct, 0–1 mm long. Inflorescence a lateral spike or raceme, 8–70 mm long; flowers crowded, 4–24, all bisexual; bracts opposite-decussate, sometimes becoming alternate above, linear to ovate or elliptic, > pedicels; pedicels absent or < 1 mm long, rarely to 4.5 mm, eglandular-hairy all around. Calyx lobes 4, acute to acuminate, 2–5 mm long, sub-equal, eglandular-ciliolate or -ciliate, rarely eglandular-hairy. Corolla 6–10 mm diameter; tube white to purplish, 1.0–2.5 mm long, < calyx, glabrous; lobes 4, purplish to blue, fading to pink or white, erecto-patent to recurved, unequal to sub-equal, lanceolate, ovate, elliptic, or obovate, 2.5–5.0 mm long, acute to sub-acute, rarely rounded; nectar guides absent. Stamen filaments pale purple fading white, 3–4 mm long; anthers pink, purplish, or magenta. Style glabrous or eglandular-hairy, 2.0–4.5 mm long. Capsules latiseptate, usually sub-acute or sometimes acute or obtuse, glabrous or eglandular-pubescent, 3.5–5.0 mm long, 2.2–3.2 mm at widest point. Seeds ellipsoid or broadly ellipsoid, flattened, smooth, pale brown, 0.8–1.3 mm.

 Key
1Stems mat-forming or creeping to decumbent, to 0.3 m tall; leaves 2.0–12.1 × 0.7–5.2 mm; flowers mauve, blue, or violet, 6–8 mm diametersubsp. pimeleoides
Stems ascending to erect, to 0.9 m tall; leaves 7.5–15.5 × 1.8–8.7 mm; flowers mauve, fading white, 8–10 mm diametersubsp. faucicola
 Recognition

Veronica pimeleoides plants can be distinguished from other glaucous-leaved hebes by their small, often narrow leaves (although they may be sub-orbicular), usually coloured flowers, and often acute to acuminate calyx and corolla lobes. The contrast between the glaucous leaves and the dark stems is also distinctive.

V. biggarii plants are similar, with small, glaucous leaves, but usually sparsely puberulent stems and inflorescences, leaves are thicker, often reddish, and blunt at the apex, bracts are alternate throughout, pedicels 1–3 mm long, and the flowers have white corollas.

 Distribution

South Island: Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago; mostly in the west.

 Habitat

Grasslands, terraces, lake shores, rock outcrops.

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Number of subspecific taxa in New Zealand within Veronica pimeleoides Hook.f.
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Endemic)2
Total2
 Phenology

Flowers: December–March; fruits: January–May (persisting all year).

 Cytology

2n = 40, 80 (See Bayly & Kellow 2006​​​​​​​, as Hebe pimeleoides).

 Notes

Veronica pimeleoides is classified in V. subg. Pseudoveronica sect. Hebe and the informal group “Subcarnosae” (Albach & Meudt 2010; Bayly & Kellow 2006).

 Bibliography
Albach, D.C.; Meudt, H.M. 2010: Phylogeny of Veronica in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres based on plastid, nuclear ribosomal and nuclear low-copy DNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54: 457–471.
Armstrong, J.B. 1879: Descriptions of some new native plants. New Zealand Country Journal 3(1): 56–59.
Bayly, M.J.; Kellow, A.V. 2006: An Illustrated Guide to New Zealand Hebes. Te Papa Press, Wellington. [as Hebe glauca-caerulea (J.B.Armstr.) Cockayne; Veronica glauca-caerulea J.B.Armstr.; Veronica pimeleoides var. glauca-caerulea (J.B.Armstr.) Cheeseman]
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Government Printer, Wellington.
Cockayne, L. 1929: New combinations in the genus Hebe. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 60: 465–472.
Cockayne, L.; Allan, H.H. 1926: The present taxonomic status of the New Zealand species of Hebe. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 57: 11–47.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76. [as Hebe pimeleoides var. glauco-caerulea (J.B.Armstr.) Cockayne et Allan]
Garnock-Jones, P.J. 2023: Veronica. In: Breitwieser, I. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand – Seed Plants. Fascicle 9. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.
Garnock-Jones, P.J.; Albach, D.; Briggs, B.G. 2007: Botanical names in Southern Hemisphere Veronica (Plantaginaceae): sect. Detzneria, sect. Hebe, and sect. Labiatoides. Taxon 56: 571–582.
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Kellow, A.V.; Bayly, M.J.; Mitchell, K.A.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. 2003: Variation in morphology and flavonoid chemistry in Hebe pimeleoides (Scrophulariaceae), including a revised subspecific classification. New Zealand Journal of Botany 41(2): 233–253.