Veronica strictissima (Kirk) Garn.-Jones

Bushy shrub to 2.5 m tall. Stems erect, eglandular-puberulent or glabrous, hairs bifarious. Leaf bud distinct, its leaves appressed at margins until fully grown; sinus absent. Leaves opposite-decussate, erecto-patent to spreading; lamina sub-coriaceous, linear, linear-lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 9–49 mm long, 3–8 mm wide, dull, green above, pale green beneath; midrib evident and two lateral veins sometimes evident; surfaces glabrous or with eglandular hairs along midrib above; margin glabrous or minutely papillate to minutely eglandular-hairy, entire; apex sub-acute to acute or shortly plicate-acuminate; petiole indistinct, broadly winged, 1–3 mm long. Inflorescence a lateral raceme, 17–107 mm long; flowers crowded, 11–72, female or bisexual on separate plants, ⚥ > ♀; bracts alternate, ovate or deltoid to narrowly deltoid, < pedicels; pedicels spreading, 1–4 mm long, short eglandular-hairy, sometimes sparsely, in one row or all around. Calyx lobes 4, obtuse to rounded, 1.2–1.5 mm long, sub-equal, mixed glandular- and eglandular-ciliolate, sometimes sparsely. Corolla 4.0–6.5 mm diameter; tube white, 1.4–2.9 mm long, = or slightly > calyx, eglandular-hairy inside; lobes 4, white or sometimes pale purplish, spreading to recurved, unequal, elliptic, ovate, or orbicular, 2.0–3.2 mm long, obtuse to rounded, posterior sometimes emarginate; nectar guides absent. Stamen filaments white, 3–5 mm long; anthers dark magenta or purple. Style glabrous or sometimes eglandular-hairy, 2.3–6.0 mm long. Capsules latiseptate, sub-acute to obtuse, usually glabrous or occasionally eglandular-hairy, 2.9–4.0 mm long, 2.2–2.6 mm at widest point. Seeds broadly ellipsoid, flattened, smooth, brown, 1.0–1.6 mm long.

Rock outcrops, stony ridges, cliffs, scrub, roadside banks. Recorded elevations range from 3 to 853 m.

A plant intermediate between V. salicifolia and V. strictissima has been collected (WELT 84066) and is probably a hybrid.

Flowers: December–March, extending to June; fruits: January–June.

2n = 80 (see Bayly & Kellow 2006, as Hebe strictissima).

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

Only four other indigenous species of Veronica are known from Banks Peninsula. The others, V. lavaudiana, V. lyallii, V. odora, and V. salicifolia, are all very different and unlikely to be confused with V. strictissima.

Reproduction of V. strictissima was extensively studied by Delph (1990), who showed that fruit set on hermaphrodite plants, but not on females, is highly variable and related to plant vigour. Fruit set on hermaphrodites is also higher in populations with fewer females.