Veronica (Hebe) elliptica, kokomuka or shore hebe is indigenous to the North, South, Stewart, Solander, Snares, Auckland and Campbell Islands. In the North Island it is scarce, and known only from the west coast in scattered locations on the south Taranaki coast, on Kapiti Island, and Titahi Bay. In the South Island it is found on the north, west, and south coasts, and on the east coast as far north as Oamaru. It is naturalised on Chatham (Rekohu) Island. Indigenous also to the Falkland Islands, it is naturalised near Tierra del Fuego in southern South America, on Maatsuyker Island, Tasmania, and in France. This very hardy, bushy shrub with elliptic leaves grows up to 2m tall+, and is an excellent coastal shrub which grows quite close to the waters edge, does well in most gardens. It has flowers that are white to pale violet, but rarely flowers in northern New Zealand. Hebe elliptica is extremely variable, and some critical selection of the range of wild forms is needed. Plants from near Charleston are particularly distinctive in that they retain their flat, creeping habit in cultivation. Plants from near Titahi Bay, Porirua have been distinguished as Hebe elliptica var. crassifolia for many years, and they differ somewhat by their wider, thicker leaves. Hebe elliptica was discovered by Johann or Georg Forster (father and son), who accompanied Captain James Cook on his second voyage to New Zealand between 1772 and 1774.