Veronica stenophylla Steudel

Low-spreading to rounded bushy shrub to 2 m tall. Stems usually erect, sometimes decumbent or ascending, usually glabrous or sometimes eglandular-puberulent; hairs bifarious to uniform. Leaf bud distinct, its leaves appressed at margins until fully grown; sinus absent. Leaves opposite-decussate, spreading and often recurved; lamina sub-coriaceous, linear to narrowly lanceolate, occasionally lanceolate to elliptic, 16–87 mm long, 2.5–6.5, sometimes to 10 mm, wide, usually dull, rarely more or less glossy, pale to dark green above, dull pale green beneath; midrib evident and two lateral veins sometimes visible; surfaces with small, pitted depressions above, each with a minute glandular hair, eglandular-hairy along midrib above; margin usually glabrous, occasionally pubescent, entire; apex acute; base cuneate; petiole indistinct, broadly winged, 1–2 mm long. Inflorescence a lateral raceme, 25–95 mm long; flowers crowded, 35–170, female or bisexual on separate plants, ⚥ ≥ ♀; bracts alternate, linear to ovate or deltoid, usually ≤ pedicels; pedicels erecto-patent to spreading, 0.5–5.0 mm long, usually glabrous or with a few short hairs, sometimes puberulent. Calyx lobes 4, obtuse to acute, 1.0–1.5 mm long, sub-equal to unequal, usually eglandular-ciliate or sometimes mixed glandular- and eglandular-ciliate. Corolla 3.5–5.0 mm diameter; tube white, 1.8–4.9 mm long, > calyx usually glabrous or sometimes eglandular-hairy inside; lobes 4, white or tinged purplish, spreading to recurved, unequal, elliptic to orbicular, 1.5–2.0 mm long, obtuse to rounded, posterior sometimes emarginate; nectar guides absent. Stamen filaments white, 2.5–4.4 mm long; anthers magenta. Style glabrous, 3–7 mm long. Capsules latiseptate, acute to obtuse, glabrous, 2.0–3.5 mm long, 0.8–3.0 mm at widest point. Seeds ellipsoid to oblong, flattened, smooth, straw-yellow to pale brown, 0.9–1.5 mm long.

Bluffs, terraces, hillsides, open rocky sites, stream banks, gorges, and roadsides. Recorded elevations range from 0 to 1280 m.

2n = 40 (see Bayly & Kellow 2006, as Hebe stenophylla).

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

Beever (1991) recorded koromiko tāranga and kōkōmuka tāranga as names in Māori for V. parviflora, but that species has since been revised (Bayly et al. 2000), and now it is unclear whether the name applies to V. parviflora​​​​​​​, V. stenophylla, or both.