Veronica stricta Banks & Sol. ex Benth.

Spreading to erect, low to tall bushy shrub to 4 m tall. Stems usually erect, sometimes decumbent to ascending, eglandular-puberulent to pubescent or glabrous; hairs bifarious to uniform. Leaf bud distinct, its leaves appressed at margins until fully grown; sinus absent. Leaves opposite-decussate, erecto-patent to recurved; lamina thin to sub-coriaceous, rarely coriaceous, linear, lanceolate, oblanceolate, narrowly to broadly elliptic, ovate, obovate, or oblong, 19–127 mm long, 5.5–45.0 mm wide, dull to slightly glossy pale to dark or yellowish-green above, dull pale green beneath; midrib evident, secondary veins usually evident, sometimes faint; surfaces usually with very short eglandular hairs near midrib above and beneath, rarely glabrous or covered with mixed glandular and eglandular hairs when young; margin ciliolate, sometimes glabrous, rarely pubescent, usually entire, rarely minutely and distantly toothed; apex acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse; base cuneate; petiole indistinct, broadly winged, 2–7 mm long. Inflorescence a lateral raceme, 26–215 mm long; flowers crowded, 35–300, female or bisexual on separate plants, ⚥ ≈ ♀; bracts alternate to loosely whorled, the lowest sometimes sub-opposite, linear, lanceolate, oblong, oblanceolate, deltoid, or ovate, ≤ pedicels; pedicels erecto-patent to spreading, often recurved at fruiting, 0.5–4.3 mm long, puberulent to pubescent all around. Calyx lobes 4 or small 5th posterior lobe rarely present, usually narrowly acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse to rounded, 1.5–2.8 mm long, sub-equal, mixed glandular- and eglandular-ciliolate, usually pubescent on outer faces but glabrous in southern plants. Corolla 3–6 mm diameter; tube white, 1.5–5.0 mm long, > calyx or rarely < calyx, eglandular-hairy inside and sometimes outside; lobes 4, white or pale purplish or bluish, sub-erect to erecto-patent, sub-equal, elliptic to ovate or obovate to oblanceolate, 1.5–3.5 mm long, usually rounded, sometimes sub-acute to obtuse; nectar guides absent. Stamen filaments white, 3.2–6.5 mm long; anthers usually mauve to purple, sometimes white to buff. Style glabrous or eglandular-hairy, 6–10 or rarely 2.3–6.0 mm long. Capsules latiseptate, sub-acute to obtuse, glabrous or eglandular-hairy, 1.3–4.0 mm long, 2.0–3.3 mm at widest point. Seeds discoid to ellipsoid, flattened, smooth, straw-yellow to pale brown, 0.9–1.5 mm long.

Veronica stricta is a widespread and variable species. Its characteristic features, which are, however, not constant everywhere, are: tall shrubby habit; stems usually uniformly puberulent; sinus absent; leaves quite large and usually thin, apex often acuminate; flowers small and crowded in long, slender, cylindrical inflorescences; calyx lobes narrowly triangular or narrowly lanceolate, usually acute to acuminate, often pubescent on outer face; corolla tube longer than calyx, corolla lobes short, narrow, and sub-erect to erecto-patent; and capsules small and crowded, often on recurved pedicels.

Varieties and segregate species have been recognised based principally on leaf shape and calyx indumentum, but there is uncorrelated variation also in other characters, such as stem pubescence, calyx lobe length, corolla tube and lobe length and shape, inflorescence length and flower number, and capsule size and shape.

Plants with narrow leaves may be difficult to distinguish from V. angustissima, for which this is the only visible character. Plants with leaves in the range that characterises V. angustissima may occasionally be found in all of the varieties of V. stricta, and the recognition of V. angustissima at species rank depends on its different flavonoid profile (Bayly & Kellow 2006; Mitchell et al. 2007). The V. stricta plants that most often have such narrow leaves are from Mt Taranaki and are classified as var. egmontiana, which is a tetraploid race there (see below).

According to Webb and Simpson (2001), seed size ranges from 0.7–1.0 mm long (var. stricta as circumscribed here) to 0.9–1.5 mm (var. lata).

Lowland to sub-alpine, usually in open sites: rock outcrops, banks, roadsides, scrub, forest clearings, slips, etc., and may be weedy in urban areas. Recorded elevations range from 0 to 1451 m.

Flowers: January–May (sometimes extending to September); fruits: January–September.

2n = 40 (commonly), 2n = 80 in V. stricta var. egmontiana and var. lata and some northern plants of var. stricta (see Bayly & Kellow 2006, as Hebe stricta).

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

Moore (in Allan 1961) and Bayly and Kellow (2006) recognised more varieties than I do below. V. stricta var. stricta, as circumscribed here, is variable in many characters, but the variation is not correlated, so that broad-leaved plants in coastal habitats (formerly often identified as var. macroura) match their local narrow-leaved populations in other characters (e.g., stems glabrous, midribs more-or less glabrous, leaf margins densely hairy, calyx lobes pubescent on surfaces in East Cape and Hawke’s Bay; stems and midribs puberulent, leaf margins usually ciliolate, calyx lobes glabrous on surfaces in Wellington). In Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, plants on the coast and inland may have very long inflorescences, up to 215 mm long at times. Such complex patterns of variation indicate that recognising varieties based on one or two characters is not biologically meaningful.

Variation in other characters within V. stricta (e.g., calyx lobe length, corolla form, leaf pubescence) has not been recognised with named varieties. I have recognised three varieties: V. stricta var. stricta, var. egmontiana, and var. lata. The last two have 2n = 80; population genetic research might show them to be independent lineages worthy of species rank, but if so they are still difficult to characterise on morphological characters.