Veronica salicifolia G.Forst.

A shrub 12 to 15 ft high with green, glabrous branchlets. Leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 2 to 6 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide, narrowed at the apex into a long acuminate tip, narrowed at the base into a short, broad petiole (leaf-buds with a distinct sinus), rather thin, glabrous except for minute down on the midrib. Racemes slenderly cylindrical, 4 to 6, sometimes almost 10 in. long, 3⁄4 in. wide, very thickly crowded with blossom; peduncle 1 to 2 in. long. Flowers small, 1⁄4 in. long, shortly stalked, white or white tinged with lilac; corolla-tube rather wide, not much longer than the calyx; corolla-lobes narrow, not spreading; calyx-lobes narrow, pointed, fringed with down. Seed-capsules rounded, glabrous, less than twice as long as the calyx, pointing backward towards the base of the raceme when ripe.

Native of the South Island of New Zealand, where it ranges from sea-level to subalpine elevations, and of south Chile, where it appears to be confined to the coast; discovered at Dusky Bay, Fiordland, New Zealand, during Cook’s second voyage. As now represented in cultivation, and as now defined, V. salicifolia is quite hardy, but Cheeseman included in V. salicifolia as varieties the tender V. gigantea and also V. stricta. This latter species (q.v.) is in the main confined to North Island and might well have tender forms. The distinguishing characters of V. salicifolia are the long, lanceolate leaves acuminately tapered at the apex and abruptly narrowed at the base to a short petiole (leaf-buds with distinct sinus) and the backward-pointing seed-capsules.