Var. patens, Cheesem.—Leaves spreading. Spikes more numerous. Flowers rather larger.—V. buxifolia var. odora, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 524 (but not V. odora, Hook, f.)
North Island: High mountains of the interior, from Hikurangi, Tongariro, and Mount Egmont southwards to the Tararua Range. South Island: Abundant in mountain districts throughout. Var. patens: Plentiful from Nelson to Foveaux Strait. Stewart Island: Not uncommon. Usually from 2000 ft. to 4000 ft., but descends to sea-level in Stewart Island. December–March.
An abundant plant in mountain districts, recognised without any difficulty by the stout erect rigid habit, dark-green closely imbricated keeled leaves, which are conspicuously truncate or subcordate at the base, and by the usually numerous short spikes massed into a compact terminal inflorescence. Mr. Kirk considered my var. patens to be identical with V. odora, Hook f., which Hooker had reduced to V. buxifolia in the Handbook; but Mr. N. E. Brown, who has kindly examined the types of V. odora for me, states that this view is altogether incorrect. I refer V. odora to V. elliptica.
38. V. anomala, Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv. (1872) 291.—An erect perfectly glabrous much-branched shrub 3–5 ft. high; branches long, slender, fastigiate, leafy, purplish towards the tips. Leaves spreading, sessile or nearly so, ⅓–¾ in. long, ⅛–⅙ in. broad, linear-oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, subacute, keeled, coriaceous, dark-green and shining above, paler beneath, midrib obscure. Spikes crowded together at the tips of the branches, 5–10-flowered, forming a short terminal panicle; rhachis puberulous; bracts ovate, acute, coriaceous, as long as the calyx. Flowers sessile, white or pale-pink, ¼–⅓ in. diam. Calyx 3-partite with one of the segments broader and emarginate or 2-lobed, more rarely 4-partite; segments linear-oblong, obtuse. Corolla-tube slender, tubular, about twice as long as the calyx; limb either 3-lobed with the anticous lobe entirely suppressed, or 4-lobed with the anticous lobe small and narrow-linear; the dorsal and lateral lobes oblong, obtuse. Capsule ovate-oblong, obtuse, glabrous, half as long again as the calyx.—Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 355; Hook. f. Bot. Mag. t. 7360.
South Island: Canterbury—Rakaia Valley, Mount Peel, Mount Cook, Armstrong! 3000–4000 ft. December–February.
A very handsome and attractive species. Its nearest ally is V. buxifolia var. patens, narrow-leaved states of which approach it very closely. Sir J. D. Hooker remarks that in England he has never seen cultivated specimens with the anticous lobe of the corolla entirely suppressed, although it is always much smaller and narrower than the other three. In New Zealand cultivated specimens are variable in this respect. Usually some of the flowers want the anticous lobe and others possess it, but it is easy to find plants in which it is either always absent or always present. The few wild specimens that I have seen have no trace of the anticous lobe; but I suspect that a larger series would show that it is frequently developed.
39. V. decumbens, Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 352.—A small decumbent much-branched shrub 1–3 ft. high; branches spreading, purplish-black, bifariously pubescent. Leaves
