Veronica pulvinaris (Hook.fil.) Cheeseman

Taxonomic Identity

Veronica pulvinaris (Hook.fil.) Cheeseman is a perennial cushion plant with a woody base.

Branch Characteristics

It produces multiple erect glabrous (hairless) branches that grow up to 39 mm long and 4.6 mm wide.

General Leaf Morphology

Its leaves are spirally imbricate, either tightly or loosely appressed, and sessile, measuring 1.8–4.9 mm long by 0.6–1.8 mm wide, with a length-to-width ratio of 1.7–5.3:1.

Leaf Shape and Margin

Leaves are usually oblanceolate, narrowly obovate, or spathulate, widest above the middle, typically with an obtuse apex, and have entire margins.

Leaf Hair Properties

Leaf hairs are unicellular, non-glandular, appressed, and up to 1.4 mm long.

Inner Leaf Surface Hair Distribution

The upper half of the inner leaf surface is usually sparsely hairy or bears just a few hairs, and it is rarely glabrous.

Outer Leaf Surface Hair Distribution

The outer leaf surface is usually glabrous, or may have a few hairs or be sparsely hairy only on its upper half.

Leaf Edge Hair Distribution

Leaf edges are ciliate mostly on the upper half.

Flower Arrangement and Bracts

Flowers are sessile, solitary, and axillary near branch tips, and each flower has two bracts.

Bract Morphology

The bracts measure 2.2–4.1 mm long and 0.3–0.8 mm wide, have obtuse apexes, and bear hairs similar to leaf hairs but shorter, ranging from 0.3–0.8 mm long.

Calyx Morphology

The calyx is 2.1–4.7 mm long, regular, with all lobes divided all the way to the calyx base; it is hairy on the outside and along lobe edges, and glabrous on the inside.

Corolla Morphology

The corolla is 2.6–7.7 mm long, including a 1.6–5.8 mm long corolla tube, is subregular, and white.

Corolla Lobe Morphology

Corolla lobes are 1.0–2.4 mm long, range from spreading to erect, and are narrowly to very broadly obovate.

Stamen Morphology

There are 2 stamens, with white filaments 0.2–0.8 mm long, and anthers that are purple in male flowers, measuring 0.5–1.4 mm long.

Style and Stigma Morphology

The style is 2.3–7.0 mm long, exserted, and ends in a capitate stigma.

Ovary Morphology

The ovary is 0.5–1.1 mm long, and is densely hairy at its tip with hairs up to 0.4 mm long.

Fruit Morphology

Fruits are capsules that undergo both septicidal and loculicidal dehiscence, measuring 1.0–3.0 mm long and 1.2–2.7 mm wide, and are hairy at the tip.

Seed Morphology

Each capsule holds up to 11 seeds; seeds are 0.5–0.9 mm long and 0.4–0.6 mm wide, and are discoid and smooth.

Flowering and Fruiting Period

Veronica pulvinaris flowers from November to February, and fruits mainly in December and January.

Chromosome Number

Its chromosome number is 2n = 42.

Distribution Range

This species is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand, where it occurs in northwest Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, and possibly Otago, mostly on the eastern side of the main divide.

Habitat and Elevation

It grows at elevations from 600 to 2260 m above sea level, in alpine cushion herbfield or fellfield, and usually inhabits rocky areas including bluffs, crevices, stony ground, and scree.