Nearest to V. tetrasticha, from which it is separated without any difficulty by the obtusely tetragonous branchlets, tumid obtuse leaves, and broader shorter capsule. Mr. N. E. Brown informs me that the specimens quoted in the Handbook under V. tetragona from Gordon's Nob (Monro) and Waiau-au Valley (Travers) in reality belong to this species.
50. V. tetragona, Hook. Ic. Plant. t. 580.—A small usually erect much-branched shrub 6 in. to 3 ft. high; stems ringed with the scars of the fallen leaves; branches stout, rigid, erect, obtusely 4-angled when adult, 110–16 in. diam. Leaves most densely quadrifariously imbricated, erect, opposite pairs connate at the base, 112–110 in. long, broadly deltoid-ovate, obtuse, keeled at the back, very thick and coriaceous, smooth and shining, margins and base usually ciliolate or woolly. Flowers 3–8, sessile among the uppermost leaves and forming small terminal heads, ¼–⅓ in. diam., white. Bracts conspicuously furrowed, woolly at the base. Calyx-segments unequal, linear-oblong, obtuse, furrowed. Corolla 4-lobed; lobes spreading, dorsal the largest, obovate, entire or emarginate, anticous the smallest, narrow-oblong. Capsule broadly oblong, subacute, compressed, exceeding the calyx.—Raoul, Choix, 43; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 194; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 211; Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 351. V. subsimilis, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxi. (1899) 278.
North Island: Mountain districts from Mount Hikurangi and Tongariro southwards to the Tararua Range, abundant. 2000–5500 ft. December–February.
A very remarkable species. Flowerless specimens so closely resemble a Podocarpus or Dacrydium that Sir W. J. Hooker had a plate prepared for the "Icones Plantarum" under the name of Podocarpus Dieffenbachii. I have seen no specimens from the South Island, and it is now quite certain that most (if not all) of the South Island localities assigned to the species in the Handbook belong to other species.
51. V. lycopodioides, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 211.—A stout much-branched shrub 1–4 ft. high; branches rigid, erect, clothed with densely imbricating leaves, acutely or obtusely 4-angled wnen adult, 110–16 in. diam. Leaves dimorphic, the adult state most densely quadrifariously imbricated, the opposite pairs connate at the base, 112–110 in. long, 110–18 in. broad, very broadly ovate-deltoid, concave in front, keeled on the back, suddenly narrowed into a stout obtuse cusp or point, very coriaceous, smooth or more or less distinctly grooved on the back, margins glabrous or ciliolate. Leaves of young plants (frequently found by reversion on older ones as well) twice as long as the mature ones, spreading, linear-subulate with a broad base, entire or more frequently irregularly lobed or almost pectinate-pinnatifid. Flowers crowded at the tips of the branches, forming small terminal heads, ⅓ in. diam., white. Bracts furrowed, ciliolate. Calyx-segments unequal, oblong. Corolla-tube about equal to the calyx; lobes 4, spreading, the
