Enlightenment for this shrub please

[Brian Ellis]

We were at a local village show the other night and saw this woody shrub.  Neither of us recalled seeing it before and certainly don't know what it is.  We are told it stands about 4 ft in height.  The new growth almost looks like flowers from a distance and the arrangement of leaves is equal around the four points of the compass so that it feels very 'square' when you stroke it.  Could someone id it for us please?

[David Lyttle]

Hello Brian,

It looks like a Hebe possibly a hybrid between something like Hebe odora and one of the whipcord species. Looking at Metcalf it could be Hebe 'Hinerua' which is a putative hybrid between Hebe odora and Hebe hectori subsp. similis.

[johnw]

Brian - When I first went to Kew the lesson of the first day was "if you have no idea what it is it's probably a Hebe!" 

The first one I ever saw was in the Botanics in St. John's, I thought it was a Cassiope on stilts.

johnw

[ChrisB]

Wondering if it might be olearia nummularifolia too?

[Brian Ellis]

I was told that it hasn't ever flowered and at three or four foot seems a bit tall for those David although I think you must be on the right track.

Doesn't look like olearia to me Chris, foliage is far too stiff.

I should have said that the length of the new growth from the woody stem was about 5cm and from the tip of one leaf to the tip of the other diametrically opposite is only 5 mm

[Brian Ellis]

I'm wondering whether it could be Hebe tetragona?

[Alan_b]

Does it flower?

[Maggi Young]

I'm wondering whether it could be Hebe tetragona?

I don't think there is enough overlap of the leaves to be that.....

[Brian Ellis]

Does it flower?

We were told that it doesn't Alan.

[Lesley Cox]

No, it's not tetragona. It should do from cuttings easily enough Brian if you can get a couple.

When I said this, I actually had in my mind, H. tetrasticha, which is why I said it isn't. Apologies Alan, Brian, David. Must be this darned cold getting to me.

[David Lyttle]

I'm wondering whether it could be Hebe tetragona?

Here is a cautionary tale: I stand by my original ID but I quoted the parentage directly from Lawrie Metcalf's Book "Hebes A Guide to Species, Hybrids and Allied Genera". If it is Hebe ' Hinerua ' the parentage would be Hebe tetragona subsp. similis X Hebe odora. Hebe hectori is considered to be a South Island species and Hebe tetragona is its North Island counterpart. Hebe tetragona subsp. similis occurs in the southern part of the North Island. The original plant of the hybrid came from Hinerua Ridge in the Ruahine Range which is within the range of Hebe tetragona subsp. similis. I find Metcalf is prone to make these sorts of errors in his publications though overall he is a useful source of information.

The whipcord Hebes show a considerable amount of variation in the field and can be difficult to identify. I follow the treatment by Bayly and Kellow in their book "An Illustrated Guide to New Zealand Hebes". They have subsumed several whipcord species into other taxa notably Hebe poppelwellii into Hebe imbricata. Hybrids between Hebe odora and whipcord species are frequently found in the field and I have one I collected myself in cultivation.

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for all this David I will pass it on, it was the height that confused me - not hard as I don't know the first thing about them

[David Lyttle]

Here is the wild-collected whipcord hebe hybrid I mentioned earlier in my post - I am not going to speculate on its parentage.
Sorry about the depth of focus as I was using my camera in snapshot mode with the ISO cranked up as it was late in the day.

[Brian Ellis]

Cheers David

[Anthony Darby]

These plants look fascinating close up.