South Island: Nelson—Mount Arthur and Mount Owen, T. F. C.; Mount Owen and Brunner Range, Townson! / 3500–5000 ft. January–March.
I describe this as a new species with some hesitation. It appears to be intermediate in characters between V. Hectori and V. Armstrongii, but is much more slender and more copiously branched than the first, and from the latter it differs in being stouter, and in the shorter and broader tightly appressed leaves, which do not form the lax obconic sheaths so characteristic of V. Armstrongii.
54. V. salicornioides, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 212.—A small much-branched shrub 1–3 ft. high; branches strict, erect, terete, clothed with imbricating leaves, 114–112 in. diam., yellowish-brown when dry. Leaves most densely imbricated and appressed to the branch, opposite pairs connate to considerably above the middle and forming a ring surrounding the branch, 115–116 in. long, subacute or almost truncate, concave in front, rounded at the back; margins usually ciliolate. Leaves of young plants not seen. Flowers 4–8 towards the tips of the branchlets. forming small terminal heads; rhachis villous. Bracts short and broad, ciliolate. Calyx-segments oblong, obtuse, margins ciliolate. Corolla white, ¼ in. diam.; tube short; limb 4-lobed, lobes spreading. Capsule longer than the calyx, subcompressed, oblong, obtuse, glabrous.—Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 352; N. E. Brown in Gard. Chron. (1888) vol. i. p. 20, f. 3.
South Island: Nelson—Cobb Valley, F. G. Gibbs! Wairau Mountains, Rough, Travers; Wairau Gorge, T. F. C.; Mount Charon (Hanmer), Cockayne! Canterbury—Rangitata Valley, Haast, Armstrong. 2500–5000 ft. January–March.
This has been much misunderstood, the name having been erroneously applied, both in England and in the colony, to the plant described herein as V. propinqua, from which it differs in the more erect habit, in the stouter strict branches, and in the more closely placed broader and shorter leaves.
55. V. Armstrongii, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xi. (1879) 464.—A small much-branched shrub 1–3 ft. high; branches spreading, often flabellate; branchlets very numerous, slender, terete, clothed with appressed imbricating leaves, 116–112 in. diam. Leaves of mature plants closely imbricating, appressed but not very closely so, about 110 in. long, opposite pairs connate for the greater part of their length, forming a sheath investing the branch which is wider at the top than the base, and thus almost obconic in shape, truncate or nearly so at the apex, tumid and coriaceous, smooth and rounded on the back, margins usually ciliolate. Leaves of young plants (frequently produced by reversion on old ones as well) spreading, 110–18 in. long, linear, acute, flat, entire or irregularly lobulate. Flowers ⅕–¼ diam., white, 4–8 or more towards the tips of the branchlets, forming small terminal heads; rhachis villous. Calyx-segments unequal, oblong, obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla-tube short, about equalling the calyx; lobes spreading. Capsule ⅙ in. long,
