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Veronica pulvinaris; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2025-12-13

Veronica pulvinaris (Hook.f.) Cheeseman

Plantaginaceae · New Zealand South

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Veronica pulvinaris (Hook.f.) Cheeseman: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Hook.fil.) Cheeseman.

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Veronica pulvinaris, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVeronica pulvinaris, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVeronica pulvinaris, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVeronica pulvinaris, photograph (c) Liadan Dickie, some rights reserved (CC BY)Veronica pulvinaris, photograph (c) Liadan Dickie, some rights reserved (CC BY)Veronica pulvinaris, photograph (c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY) 59 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-7.2°C
Record low -12.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
14°C
Jan and Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,360mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
9–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Veronica pulvinaris, one of the cushion snow hebes, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is endemic to high elevation habitats of the mountains of the northern and central South Island of New Zealand, mostly east of the main divide. Joseph Dalton Hooker described Pygmea pulvinaris in 1864, which was transferred to the genus Veronica in 1906 by Thomas Cheeseman. Plants of this species are dioecious cushions with small, spirally imbricate, sessile leaves that have sparsely but evenly distributed hairs mostly on the upper half of the leaf surfaces and edges. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Veronica pulvinaris", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,692 mm of 2,352 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 11.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Rain

2,352 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,692 mm of it May to December. Wettest month October at 246 mm, driest month February at 139 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,553 mm to 4,728 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,360 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,352 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -7.2 °C, the absolute minimum -12.5 °C, 7,408 frost nights in 44 years, 168.4 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 19.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -5.0 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -7.4 °C to -2.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 14.1 °C in January and February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -7.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +383 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Veronica pulvinaris through the yearWarmest months January and February, mean daily high 14 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low -5.0 °C; 2,352 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost19.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-12.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 9–40RH 63–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 90 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 12–1714 / 12–1612 / 10–149 / 7–115 / 3–82 / 0–51 / -2–42 / 0–55 / 2–87 / 5–1010 / 8–1212 / 10–15
Night °C5 / 4–86 / 4–84 / 2–62 / 0–3-1 / -3–1-4 / -6–-2-5 / -7–-3-4 / -6–-2-2 / -4–0-1 / -3–22 / 0–44 / 2–6
Rain mm179 / 120–404139 / 109–307167 / 125–362175 / 112–371191 / 125–392216 / 123–412197 / 126–320198 / 132–367213 / 127–447246 / 148–498204 / 129–407227 / 143–483
DLI40 / 38–4134 / 32–3526 / 25–2818 / 17–2012 / 10–149 / 8–1111 / 10–1316 / 14–1824 / 22–2631 / 28–3437 / 35–4039 / 37–41
RH %64 / 61–6764 / 62–6764 / 61–6764 / 60–6864 / 59–6964 / 59–6963 / 58–6866 / 60–7066 / 60–7066 / 61–7065 / 61–6965 / 62–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 90 grid cells holding the 265 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2658:7031 (-42.925, 171.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -12.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 19.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 90 distinct grid cells holding 265 of the 265 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2658:7031 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -43.00_171.875, lapse-corrected +383 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1297 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNew Zealand South · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-42.906, 171.781 · in the densest population, 391 records (89% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub” · “subalpine or subarctic” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 438 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 265 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 245 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 71 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 173 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 438 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Veronica pulvinaris, photograph 1did not loadVeronica pulvinaris, photograph 2did not loadVeronica pulvinaris, photograph 3did not loadVeronica pulvinaris, photograph 4did not loadVeronica pulvinaris, photograph 5did not loadVeronica pulvinaris, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Liadan Dickie, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Saryu Mae 前 朝琉, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Veronica haastii Veronica haastii Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Christopher StephensRanunculus gracilipes Ranunculus gracilipes Ranunculaceae Photo: CC BY, Irisa HudsonCelmisia lyallii Celmisia lyallii False spaniard Photo: CC BY, Irisa HudsonBrachyglottis cassinioides Brachyglottis cassinioides Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Cara-Lisa SchlootsMyosotis traversii Myosotis traversii Boraginaceae Photo: CC BY, Irisa HudsonHaastia recurva Haastia recurva Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Cara-Lisa Schloots

Other Veronica 179 in the reference

Veronica adamsii Veronica adamsii Adams' Koromiko Photo: CC0, author not statedVeronica agrestis Veronica agrestis Green field-speedwell Photo: CC0, author not statedVeronica albicans Veronica albicans Veronica recurva Photo: CC BY, Kate McAlpineVeronica allionii Veronica allionii Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Augustin SoulardVeronica alpina Veronica alpina Alpine speedwell Photo: CC0, author not statedVeronica americana Veronica americana American speedwell Photo: CC BY, IDClaireVeronica amplexicaulis Veronica amplexicaulis Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Pieter PelserVeronica anagallis-aquatica Veronica anagallis-aquatica Blue water-speedwell Photo: CC BY, Jason GrantVeronica × andersonii Veronica × andersonii Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, jonno_99Veronica aphylla Veronica aphylla Largeflower Speedwell Photo: CC0, author not statedVeronica armena Veronica armena Armenian speedwell Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakVeronica armstrongii Veronica armstrongii Armstrong's Whipcord Photo: CC BY-SA, Nick all 180 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Chionohebe pulvinaris; Pygmea ciliolata var. pumila; Pygmea pulvinaris; Veronica ciliolata var. pumila. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Plantaginaceae
Described by
(Hook.f.) Cheeseman
Native to
New Zealand South
Wild records
438 in range · 245 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3727207 is Veronica pulvinaris (Hook.fil.) Cheeseman; the page links Kew's Veronica pulvinaris (Hook.f.) Cheeseman, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -43.00_171.875, lapse-corrected +383 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 10 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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