about twice as long as the calyx, oblong-ovoid, compressed, obtuse or slightly retuse.—Armstr. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiii. (1881) 352; Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxi. (1899) 396, t. 28, 29.
South Island: Mountain districts from Nelson to Otago, but not common. 2000–5000 ft. December–February.
Closely allied to V. Hectori and V. salicornioides, from both of which it differs in the more spreading and much more copiously branched habit, and especially in the leaves, which are connate into an almost obconic sheath which is free from the branch at the tip, and truncate, or nearly so.
56. V. propinqua, Cheesem. n. sp.—A small much-branched shrub 1–3 ft. high; branches spreading, sometimes decumbent or tortuous; branchlets numerous, slender, about 120 in. diam. Leaves of mature plants densely imbricated, the opposite pairs connate for the greater part of their length, each pair forming a closed sheath round the branch 110–18 in. long, the lower part of which is adnate to the branch, the upper part free and somewhat expanded, the free tips of the leaves very short, obtusely triangular, thick and coriaceous; margins ciliolate. Leaves of young plants free, linear or spathulate, entire or irregularly lobulate-pinnatifid. Flowers ⅕–¼ in. diam., white, 4–8 near the tips of the branchlets, forming small terminal heads; rhachis villous. Calyx small; segments linear-oblong, obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla-tube about equalling the calyx; lobes spreading, unequal, the dorsal the largest. Capsule nearly twice as long as the calyx, about ⅛ in. long, ovoid, compressed, obtuse.—V. salicornioides, Hort. (not of Hook. f.). V. cupressoides var. variabilis, N. E. Brown in Gard. Chron. (1888) vol. i. 20, f. 5 (exclude F).
South Island: Otago—Upper Waipori and Maungatua, Petrie! Mount Ida and Mount Bonpland, H. J. Matthews! 2500–5000 ft. December–February.
This has been cultivated in gardens for many years under the name of V. salicornioides, from which, however, it is altogether distinct, as was first pointed out by Mr. N. E. Brown in the Gardeners' Chronicle. It was referred by Mr. Brown to V. cupressoides, but it differs from that plant in size, mode of growth, leaves, and in the flowers and capsule, and Mr. Brown now agrees with me in considering it to be a distinct species. Its nearest affinity is with V. Armstrongii, but the branches are much more slender, and the leaves smaller and narrower.
57. V. cupressoides, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 212.—A much and closely branched round-topped shrub 3–6 ft. high; branches divaricating; branchlets numerous, green, very slender, 130 in. diam. or less, terete, very minutely puberulous or glabrous, clothed with decussate scale-like leaves resembling those of a cypress. Leaves of mature plants in rather remote pairs, considerably shorter than the internodes, 120–115 in. long, not broader than the branch, ovate-oblong, obtuse, opposite pairs connate at the base, appressed or patent, rather fleshy, glabrous or minutely ciliolate. Leaves of young plants (often produced by reversion on the branches of old
