T. F. C.; Rakaia Valley, Haast! Mount Cook district, T. F. C. Westland—Kelly's Hill, Jackson's, &c., Petrie! Cockayne! Otago—Hector and Buchanan; Lake Harris, Kirk! Clinton Valley, Petrie! 2500–4500 ft. December–March.
Very close to V. Traversii, but I think sufficiently distinct in the difierent habit, flatter lanceolate leaves, which taper from below the middle to an acute or subacute apex, acute calyx-lobes, and short and broad corolla-tube. Mr. N. E. Brown informs me that specimens collected by Haast and Hector and Buchanan. exist in the Kew Herbarium, but were referred to V. Traversii by Hooker.
33. V. vernicosa, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 208.—A small usually rather stout erect or decumbent shrub 1–3 ft. high; branches spreading, often in the same plane, pubescent at the tips or almost glabrous. Leaves close-set, decussately inserted but often becoming almost distichous from the twisting of the petioles, spreading, petiolate, ¼–⅔ in. long, ⅙–⅓ in. broad, obovate or obovate-oblong, obtuse or apiculate, suddenly contracted into the short petiole, coriaceous, flat or slightly concave; midrib impressed above, thick and prominent beneath, excurrent; margins entire, sometimes ciliolate when young. Racemes few or many near the tips of the branches, ½–1½ in. long, simple, usually dense-flowered but sometimes lax; rhachis, pedicels, and bracts pubescent; pedicels variable in length, sometimes almost wanting, at other times equalling the bracts. Flowers white, ¼–⅓ in. diam. Calyx 4-partite; segments oblong, obtuse; margins usually pale, membranous, ciliolate. Corolla-tube short and broad, usually about as long as the calyx, rarely slightly exceeding it; limb 4-lobed, longer than the tube; lobes spreading,, ovate-oblong, obtuse. Capsule ovate, acute, compressed, glabrous,, rather more than twice as long as the calyx.—Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 526. V. canterburiensis, Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 355.
Var. gracilis, Cheesem.—Much more slender and more sparingly branched; branches widely divaricating. Leaves distichously spreading, narrower and less coriaceous than in the type, linear-obovate or linear-oblong to oblong-obovate, obtuse or subacute. Racemes 1–4 near the tips of the branches, 1–2 in. long, very slender and lax-flowered; pedicels longer. Capsule narrow-ovate, acute.
Var. multiflora, Cheesem.—Racemes very numerous, forming a crowded mass near the tips of the branches, slender, tapering, many-flowered.—(?)V. Grayi, Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 354.
South Island: Mountain districts in Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, and Westland, not uncommon. Sea-level to 4500 ft. December–February.
A well-marked species, recognised without much difficulty by the spreading habit and numerous short and broad leaves, which, although decussately inserted, usually spread in a more or less distichous manner through a twist in the petiole. In the typical state the racemes are generally numerous and rather short and dense-flowered; but in var. gracilis, which is a shade-form most common by the side of streams at low elevations, the racemes are usually fewer and much more slender and lax-flowered. Var. multiflora I have only seen in cultivation. It is known in gardens as V. Grayi, but I am not quite sure that it is the plant described by Armstrong under that name. Armstrong described his V. canter-
