Kingdom: Plantae
(Unranked): Angiosperms
(Unranked): Eudicots
(Unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Genus: Heliohebe
Species: H. hulkeana
Binomial name: Heliohebe hulkeana (was Hebe hulkeana)
Common Name:New Zealand Lilac, Hebe hulkeana, Marlborough hebe
Heliohebe hulkeana.(Hebe hulkeana) is an open, sprawling, cold-hardy, evergreen shrub, reaching about 50 to 100 cm high, and 150 cm across. The spear shaped leaves are dark shiny green elliptic to obtuse in shape and are 7-10cm long and 2-3cm wide. The leaf edges are often red and serrated. The stems are minutely hairy.
Its pale mauve flowers in very large open panicles, which develop from the tips of the branches. The flowers occur in profusion and last from October until December. Its common name is the 'New Zealand Lilac' due to its long, soft sprays of lavender flowers which bloom throughout spring.
This Heliohebe is found in the eastern side of the South Island of New Zealand, in Marlborough and North Canterbury, on sunny, well-drained cliffs and rocks up to an altitude of 900m.
Photographed at Te Kainga Marire gardens, New Plymouth.
