Dusky Bay, Menzies. Sea-level to 3000 ft. December–February. Var. divaricata: Not uncommon in the Pelorus and Rai Valleys, Marlborough, Macmahon!
V. Menziesii was founded by Bentham on specimens collected by Menzies in Dusky Bay in 1791. In the Flora Hooker united Menzies's plant with another gathered by Bidwill in the vicinity of Nelson; but in the Handbook he referred Menzies's specimens to V. elliptica, and associated Bidwill's specimens with a plant gathered on the Ruahine Mountains by Colenso, and with others collected in various localities in the South Island by Sinclair, Travers, and Haast, giving the name of Colensoi to the species thus described. But as Colenso's plant was described as having simple racemes and glaucous leaves, while Bidwill's (judging from a specimen in my possession) had compound racemes and dark-green leaves, this arrangement did not appear at all satisfactory. At my request Mr. N. E. Brown has carefully examined the types in the Kew Herbarium, and reports that Menzies's and Bidwill's specimens undoubtedly belong to one and the same species, and that Hooker was in error in referring the former to V. elliptica. He further states that Colenso's Ruahine Mountain plant is totally difierent, and is the species subsequently described by Colenso under the name of V. Hillii. Under these circumstances, the name of V. Menziesii must be restored, the species being characterized by the narrow acute rigid leaves, corymbosely branched racemes, 4-partite calyx with subacute segments, and a corolla-tube almost twice as long as the calyx. Its nearest ally is V. diosmæfolia, to which my var. divaricata is very close indeed. A plant collected by Petrie at the foot of Ruapehu, and by Messrs. Hill and Andrew on the Ruahine Range, is doubtfully referred to V. Menziesii for the present, but the specimens are not sufficient for precise determination.
23. V. Colensoi, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 209, as regards the North Island specimens only.—A small erect or spreading perfectly glabrous shrub 9–18 in. high; branches leafy above, ringed with the scars of the fallen leaves below. Leaves rather close-set, suberect or spreading, sessile or narrowed into a very short broad petiole, ¾–1½ in. long, ⅕–½ in. broad, linear-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acute or subacute, entire or remotely incised, coriaceous, flat or nearly so, dark-green above, glaucous beneath; midrib stout, prominent beneath. Racemes few near the tips of the branches, slightly exceeding the leaves, slender, peduncled, simple or sparingly branched, many-flowered; rhachis slender, puberulous or glabrate; bracts exceeding the short pedicels. Flowers white, ¼ in. diam. Calyx deeply 4-partite; segments ovate-lanceolate, acute. Corolla-tube broadly funnel-shaped, shorter than the calyx; limb rather longer than the tube, 4-lobed; lobes spreading or reflexed, narrow-ovate, subacute. Stamens short, not exceeding the corolla-lobes. Capsule narrow-ovate, acute, compressed, about twice as long as the calyx.—V. Hillii, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 606; Kirk, l.c. 524.
North Island: Hawke's Bay—By the Ngaruroro River at Kuripapango; between the Rangitikei ford and Erewhon, H. Hill! A. Hamilton! D. Petrie! Ruahine Mountains, Colenso. South Island: Otago, locality not stated, Buchanan!
