ones) 110—14 in. long, linear-oblong to oblong or oblong-spathulate, acute, narrowed into short free petioles, entire or irregularly lobulate or pinnatifid. Flowers small, ⅛–⅙ in. diam., pale bluish-purple or rarely white, sessile or nearly so, 3—8 near the tips of the branchlets. forming small terminal heads. Calyx unequally 4-lobed; lobes short, oblong, obtuse. Corolla-tube very short; lobes spreading, dorsal the largest, oblong- obovate, anticous the smallest, linear-oblong. Capsule small, 112 in. long, about twice as long as the calyx, linear-obovoid or narrow cuneate-obovoid, retuse at the tip.—Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 351; N. E. Brown in Gard. Chron. (1888) vol. i. 20, t. 4 and 6; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 520.
South Island: Nelson—Upper Wairau Valley, Sinclair, T. F. C.; Lake Tennyson, T. F. C.; Fowler's Pass and Stanley River, Kirk! Waiau Valley, Travers! Canterbury—Broken River basin, Enys! Kirk! T. F. C.; Harper's Pass and Ashburton Valley, Haast! Otago—Lindis Pass and Lake district, Hector and Buchanan! Lammerlaw Hills, Petrie! 2000—4500 ft. December—February.
A very remarkable species, easily distinguished by its cypress-like appearance, very slender branchlets, small scale-like leaves in remote pairs, and small narrow obovoid capsules.
58. V. Haastii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 213.—A prostrate or decumbent much or sparingly branched glabrous shrub, black when dry; stems woody, tortuous, 4—12 in. long; branches ascending, densely uniformly leafy, obscurely tetragonous, ⅓—⅔ in. diam. with the leaves on. Leaves closely quadrifariously imbricated, opposite pars connate at the very base, spreading or suberect, ¼–½ in. long, broadly oblong to obovate, obtuse, concave in front, not keeled at the back, fleshy when fresh, extremely coriaceous and rigid when dry; margins ciliate at the very base. Flowers small, white, most densely compacted in terminal ovoid heads ½–1½ in. long, formed of numerous reduced spikes in the axils of leafy bracts. Bracts oblong or ovate-oblong, about equalling the calyx. Calyx 4-partite; segments linear-oblong, obtuse. Corolla-tube longer than the limb, rather shorter than the calyx; limb exserted, ^in. diam., 4-lobed; lobes ovate, subacute. Capsule about equalling the calyx, ovoid-oblong, acute.—Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 350.
Var. macrocalyx.—Much more copiously branched, prostrate and trailing, brown when dry. Leaves ⅓–⅔ in. long, obovate or broadly obovate-spathulate, obtuse, bright green and fleshy when fresh. Bracts lanceolate or linear, acute. Calyx-segments linear, obtuse or subacute, almost equalling the corolla. Corolla-tube longer than the narrow limb.—V. macrocalyx, Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 353.
South Island: Nelson—Mount Arthur, T. F. C. Canterbury—Mount Torlesse and Mount Dobson, Haast, T. F. C.; mountains above the Broken River, Enys! T. F. C; Mount Darwin and Mount Cook, Haast. Var. macrocalyx: Mount Rolleston and Waimakariri Glacier, Armstrong! T. F. C., Cockayne! Rangitata Valley, Armstrong. 3500–6500 ft. December–February.
