Veronica mooreae (Heads) Garn.-Jones

Shrub to 1.2 m tall or rarely to 2.0 m. Stems erect, eglandular-pubescent, hairs bifarious. Leaf bud distinct, its leaves appressed at margins until fully grown; sinus shield-shaped to rhomboid, or sometimes narrow and acute. Leaves opposite-decussate, erecto-patent; lamina coriaceous, rigid, oblong, oblong-elliptic, oblong-lanceolate, or linear-oblong, 7–28 mm long, 3–8 mm wide, glossy dark green above, somewhat glossy green to dark green beneath; midrib and  two lateral veins evident; surfaces glabrous; margin glabrous, entire but minutely crenulate; apex acute or sub-acute; base steeply cuneate to truncate; petiole 1–3 mm long. Inflorescence a lateral spike or raceme, 8–30 mm long; flowers crowded, 3–13, all bisexual; bracts opposite-decussate, connate, ovate or deltoid, > pedicels; pedicels erect, 0–1 mm long, sparsely eglandular-pubescent all around. Calyx lobes 4, anterior pair sometimes fused in lower ⅓, obtuse to sub-acute, 3–4 mm long, sub-equal, eglandular-ciliolate or mixed glandular- and eglandular-ciliolate. Corolla 10–12 mm diameter; tube white, 4–5 mm long, ≥ calyx; glabrous or with mixed eglandular and glandular hairs inside; lobes 4, white, erecto-patent to recurved, sub-equal, elliptic to broadly elliptic, 5–6 mm long, obtuse to rounded; nectar guides absent. Stamen filaments white, 3–4 mm long; anthers pink or pale pink. Style glabrous, 5.5–8.5 mm long. Capsules latiseptate, acute or sub-acute, glabrous, 3.5–4.5 mm long, 2.0–2.8 mm at widest point.  Seeds broadly ellipsoid, flattened, smooth, pale brown, 1.2–1.8 mm long.

Penalpine grassland and montane to sub-alpine scrub. Recorded elevations range from 500 to 1385 m.

Flowers: November–February, sometimes to June); fruits: January–June (sometimes persisting to be present all year).

2n = 126 (see Bayly & Kellow 2006, as Hebe mooreae).

Veronica mooreae is classified in V. subg. Pseudoveronica sect. Hebe and the informal group “Buxifoliatae” (Albach & Meudt 2010; Bayly & Kellow 2006). The phylogenetic relationships of V. mooreae are not well resolved. On the basis of ITS sequence data, it falls within a large, unresolved grouping of shrubby hebes that have 2n = 40, 80, 120, not close to V. odora (2n = 42, 84), with which it was previously confused. Its unusual chromosome number  (2n = 126) suggests it might have a hybrid origin, and it is possible that one of its parent species is V. odora.

The thickened leaf margins are usually bevelled at about 90° to the surfaces, and their minute crenulations are visible with a lens or can be felt by rubbing a fingernail along the margin.

Plants from Gouland Downs have long internodes and slender leaves that are almost linear-elliptic.