oblong, acute, ciliolate. Corolla with a short and broad funnel-shaped tube and large spreading 4-lobed limb; dorsal and lateral lobes subequal, anterior rather smaller. Capsule ¼ in. long, ovate, acute, compressed, about twice as long as the calyx.
South Island: Canterbury—Downs near the sea in the south of the province, Armstrong! near Timaru, Buchanan!
Easily distinguished by the softly pubescent branches, pale-green leaves with a pubescent margin, and short broad racemes with very large flowers.
13. V. chathamica, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. vii. (1875) 338, t. 13, f. 1.—A prostrate or trailing shrub, with much-branched stems 6–18 in. long; branches numerous, terete, sparingly softly pubescent or almost glabrous. Leaves usually close-set, spreading, sessile or very shortly petiolate, ½–1 in. long, elliptic or elliptic-oblong, obtuse or subacute, fiat, subcoriaceous, glabrous or nearly so. Racemes several towards the tips of the branches, peduncled; flowering portion ½–1 in. long and almost as broad, broadly oblong, obtuse, dense-flowered; rhachis, pedicels, and bracts pubescent, the latter equalling or exceeding the pedicels. Flowers ⅕–¼ in. diam., purple. Calyx deeply 4-partite; segments ovate-lanceolate, acute. Corolla-tube short, not much longer than the calyx; limb 4-lobed; dorsal and lateral lobes nearly equal, anterior smaller. Capsule about ⅕ in. long, ovate, subacute, compressed, about twice as long as the calyx.—Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 351; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 528.
Var. Coxiana, Cheesem.—Branches stouter, suberect. Leaves rather larger and more distant, 1–1½ in. long, obovate-oblong or elliptical, rounded at the apex, almost membranous, softly pubescent on both surfaces. Corolla-tube rather longer.—V. Coxiana, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 529.
Chatham Islands: Not uncommon on rocks near the sea, H. H. Travers! F. A. D. Cox! L. Cockayne!
A well-marked species, easily recognised by the trailing or prostrate habit and short broad very obtuse racemes. Mr. Kirk distinguished his V. Coxiana mainly by the softer and more herbaceous habit and more pubescent leaves and branches, characters which entirely break down when a large suite of specimens is examined.
14. V. acutiflora, Benth. in D.C. Prodr. x. 460.—A small erect sparingly branched shrub; branches slender, terete, glabrous or the ultimate ones very minutely puberulous. Leaves sessile, spreading, 2–3 in. long, ⅙–¼ in. broad, linear-lanceolate, narrowed to an obtuse tip, flat or nearly so, quite smooth and glabrous or the midrib puberulous above, margins entire. Racemes opposite and axillary near the tips of the branches, 2–4 in. long, slender, lax-flowered; rhachis, pedicels, and bracts pubescent or glabrate;. pedicels slender, the lowest ⅙ in. long. Flowers ⅙–⅕ in. diam. Calyx deeply 4-partite; segments long, ovate-lanceolate, acute,
