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Classification
Subordinate Taxa
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Veronica ciliolata (Hook.f.) Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 540 (1906)
Synonymy:
- ≡ Pygmea ciliolata Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 217 (1864)
- ≡ Chionohebe ciliolata (Hook.f.) B.G.Briggs & Ehrend., Contr. Herb. Austral. 25: 2 (1976)
Lectotype (designated by Ashwin in Allan 1961): Hopkins River, New Zealand, Haast s.n., No. 15, K
Etymology:
Description
Dense cushion sub-shrub to 0.06 m tall. Stems erect, densely crowded, rarely more lax and ascending, glabrous. Leaf bud indistinct, its outer leaves fully grown, separating early. Leaves sub-decussate, sub-erect to appressed; lamina thin, oblanceolate, obovate, or spathulate, rarely broadly obovate, 1.7–4.5 mm long, 0.8–2.9 mm wide, dull green to olive-green above and beneath in distal half, becoming pale green, brownish, or purplish at base; veins not evident; hairs stiff, eglandular, appressed or spreading: on surfaces absent or isolated and scattered distally; margin sparsely to densely, irregularly to regularly ciliate throughout or in distal or basal half, often with an apical tuft, sometimes a few glandular hairs as well; apex obtuse; base slightly narrowed; petiole absent. Inflorescence a solitary axillary bibracteate flower; flowers female or male on separate plants, ♂ > ♀; bracts 2, opposite, narrowly to very narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, rarely narrowly ovate to obovate, ± equalling and investing calyx; pedicel absent. Calyx lobes 5, obtuse to sub-acute, 1.8–3.6 mm long, equal, eglandular-ciliate, rarely also glandular-ciliate, glabrous on adaxial surface, usually sparsely hairy distally on abaxial surface. Corolla 2.1–6.5 mm diameter; tube white, 2.7–6.0 mm long, ≥ calyx, glabrous; lobes 5, white, erecto-patent to spreading, equal, obovate to broadly obovate, 1.2–3.0 mm long, obtuse; nectar guides absent. Stamen filaments white, 0.25–1.25 mm long; anthers magenta or purple. Style glabrous, 3–7 mm long. Capsules angustiseptate, emarginate, glabrous or with isolated hairs at apex, 2.5–3.5 mm long, 1.4–3.1 mm at widest point. Seeds ellipsoid, weakly flattened, smooth, brown to orange-brown, 0.6–1.0 mm long.
Key
| 1 | Ovary and capsule glabrous; bracts and calyx lobes glabrous at least in lower half; leaf margin ciliate throughout, or ciliate in upper half and glabrous below | subsp. ciliolata |
| Ovary and capsule hairy at apex; bracts and calyx lobes sparsely to densely hairy to base; leaf margin sparsely to densely ciliate in lower half, glabrous above except for apical tuft | subsp. fiordensis |
Recognition
birleyi | spectabilis | trifida | densifolia | thomsonii | pulvinaris | chionohebe | ciliolata | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Habit | lax sub-shrub | lax sub-shrub | lax sub-shrub | lax sub-shrub | cushion plant | cushion plant | cushion plant | cushion plant |
Stem hairs | eglandular & a few glandular, spreading | mixed glandular & eglandular, spreading | eglandular, retrorse | eglandular, retrorse | glabrous | glabrous | glabrous | glabrous |
Leaf size (mm) | 4.0–12 × 2.5–11 | 4.5–13 × 2.5–6.0 | 2–10 × 1–7 | 2–6.5 × 0.7–3 | 1.7–4.7 × 0.7–2.6 | 1.8–4.8 × 0.5–2 | 1.75–5 × 0.75–2.25 | 1.75–4.5 × 0.8–2.8 |
Leaf margins | deeply crenate to lobed | deeply crenate to lobed | shallowly toothed to lobed, rarely entire | usually entire, rarely 1–2 teeth or lobes | entire | entire | entire | entire |
Lamina | subcoriaceous, flat; margin not thickened, smooth | subcoriaceous, flat; margin not thickened, smooth | subcoriaceous, flat; margin not thickened, smooth | coriaceous, keeled, with thickened papillate margin | thin, flat; margin not thickened, smooth | thin, flat; margin not thickened, smooth | thin, flat; margin not thickened, smooth | thin, flat; margin not thickened, smooth |
Leaf hairs: adaxial | scattered eglandular | mixed eglandular & glandular | glabrous | glabrous | eglandular: in broad band across middle, occasionally scattered distally | eglandular appressed: scattered or in a central patch on distal half | absent | absent or isolated and scattered in distal ½ |
Leaf hairs: abaxial | scattered eglandular | mixed eglandular & glandular | glabrous | glabrous | glabrous, or stiff, eglandular, isolated distal hairs | glabrous or eglandular appressed scattered distally | absent or isolated in distal ½ | absent or isolated and scattered in distal ½ |
Leaf hairs: margin | eglandular-ciliate | mixed eglandular & glandular-ciliate | long glandular-ciliate | stiff eglandular-ciliate | ciliate in basal ⅔ with apical tuft | eglandular appressed: ciliate | absent or scattered cilia | ciliate throughout or in basal or distal half, usually with apical tuft |
Sexual system | cosexual | cosexual | cosexual | cosexual | dioecious | dioecious | dioecious | dioecious |
Inflorescence | 2–3 flowers, sometimes solitary bibracteolate | 2–3 flowers, sometimes solitary bibracteolate | 2–3 flowers, sometimes solitary bibracteolate | solitary bibracteolate | solitary bibracteolate | solitary bibracteolate | solitary bibracteolate | solitary bibracteolate |
Peduncle (mm) | 2–4 | 5–15 | 2–10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pedicel (mm) | 0.3–1.5 | 2.5–5 | 0.5–7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Calyx lobes | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Corolla lobes | (4–)5(–6) | 4(–5) | 5(–6) | 5(–6) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Corolla diameter (mm) | 7–10 | 18–25 | 15–20 | 7–16 | 2.5–5 | 2.5–6 | 1.5–4.1 | 2.1–6.5 |
Corolla shape | funnelform | funnelform | funnelform | funnelform | rotate | rotate | rotate | rotate |
Capsule size (mm) | 3–4 × 3–4 | 4–5 × 4–5 | 4.5–6 × 2.5–3 | 2.7–5 × 1.7–4.25 | 1.5–3 × 1–2 | 1–3 × 1.2–2.7 | 1.9–2.5 × 1.5–1.9 | 2.5–3.5 × 1.4–3.1 |
Capsule hairs | glabrous | mixed glandular & eglandular-hairy at apex | glandular-ciliate, sometimes glabrous | glabrous | glabrous to densely hairy at apex | eglandular-hairy, especially at apex | absent | absent or apical |
Distribution
South Island: Westland, Canterbury (mostly near the main divide), Fiordland, Southland (western mountains).
Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
| Category | Number |
|---|---|
| Indigenous (Endemic) | 1 |
| Indigenous (Non-endemic) | 1 |
| Total | 2 |
Phenology
Flowers: October–March (mostly December–January); fruits: November–May.
Notes
Veronica ciliolata is classified in V. subg. Pseudoveronica sect. Hebe and informally in the “snow hebe” group (Albach & Meudt 2010). Analysis of nuclear ITS sequence data indicate the cushion snow hebes are a natural group, with V. ciliolata sister to a clade comprising V. chionohebe, V. thomsonii , and V. pulvinaris, whereas chloroplast DNA data have the relationships of these species associated with V. trifida, V. densifolia, and related species, suggesting, as is strongly indicated by morphology, that hybridisation sometimes occurs within this wider group.
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.
Briggs, B.G.; Ehrendorfer, F. 1976: Chionohebe, a new name for Pygmea Hook. f. (Scrophulariaceae). Contributions from Herbarium Australiense 25: 1–4.
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Government Printer, Wellington.
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.
Heads, M.J. 1994: Biogeography and evolution in the Hebe complex (Scrophulariaceae): Leonohebe and Chionohebe. Candollea 49: 81–119. [as Chionohebe ciliolata (Hook.f.) B.G.Briggs & Ehrend.]
Hooker, J.D. 1864: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's and Macquarie's Islands. Part I. Reeve, London.
Meudt, H.M. 2008: Taxonomic revision of Australasian snow hebes (Veronica, Plantaginaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 21: 387–421.
