Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Lamiales Bromhead
Family
Plantaginaceae Juss.
Genus
Veronica L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Veronica pulvinaris (Hook.f.) Cheeseman
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Pygmea pulvinaris Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 217 (1864)
  • ≡ Chionohebe pulvinaris (Hook.f.) B.G.Briggs & Ehrend., 25: 2 (1976)
  • = Pygmea ciliolata var. pumila Ashwin in Allan, Fl. New Zealand 1, 874, 975 (1961)
  • ≡ Veronica ciliolata var. pumila (Ashwin) Garn.-Jones in Garnock-Jones et al., Taxon 56: 577 (2007)
 Description

Perennial herb from stout woody stock; stems woody, rooting, giving off ∞ slender erect branches us. tightly compacted into dense, hoary, grey-green cushion 2–4 cm. high and up to 10 cm. or more diam., sts laxer and forming small patch; branches again much branched towards tips, 3–5 mm. diam. including lvs. Lvs closely irregularly imbricate, us. ± loosely spreading, linear-oblong to linear-spathulate, 2.5–4 × ± 1 mm., obtuse to subacute; margins and upper part of inner surface sparsely hispid with long, coarse, stiff, white hairs, outer surface sparsely hispid in upper part or glab. except for tuft at tip. Bracts 3–4 mm. long, linear, very similar to calyx-lobes. Calyx 3–4 mm. long, deeply divided into 5–(6) linear lobes 2.5–3·5 mm. long; lobes hispid on margins and outer surface especially towards tip. Corolla white, 5–6–(8) mm. long, salverform; tube ± ═ or much > calyx; lobes 5–6, 1·5–2.5 mm. long, broadly obovate-oblong, rounded to subacute. Capsule c. 2.5–3 mm. long, hairy at apex at least when young.

[From:  Allan  (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1 as Pygmea pulvinaris Hook.f.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Bibliography
Briggs, B.G.; Ehrendorfer, F. 1976: Chionohebe, a new name for Pygmea Hook. f. (Scrophulariaceae). Contr.Herb.Aust.No. 25: 1–4.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [as Chionohebe pulvinaris (Hook.f.) B.G.Briggs & Ehrend.] [Not Threatened]
Garnock-Jones, P.J.; Albach, D.; Briggs, B.G. 2007: Botanical names in Southern Hemisphere Veronica (Plantaginaceae): sect. Detzneria, ect. Hebe, and sect. Labiatoides. Taxon 56: 571–582.
Heads, M.J. 1994: Biogeography and evolution in the Hebe complex (Scrophulariaceae): Leonohebe and Chionohebe. Candollea 49: 81–119. [as Chionohebe pulvinaris (Hook.f.) B.G.Briggs & Ehrend.]
Hooker, J.D. 1864: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's and Macquarie's Islands. Part I. Reeve, London.
Meudt, H.M. 2008: Taxonomic revision of Australasian snow hebes (Veronica, Plantaginaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 21: 387–421.