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  4. Coprosma areolata

Coprosma areolata

At Kennedy Bay, September.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Coprosma areolata.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Kennedy Bay, September.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Coprosma areolata.<br>Photographer: Wayne Bennett, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Abaxial leaf surface, Otatara, Soutland.<br>Date taken: 14/10/2015, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Eastern Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/01/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Eastern Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/01/2010, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Trentham, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/05/2021, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Trentham, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/05/2021, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Trentham, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/05/2021, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Trentham, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19/05/2021, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

thin-leaved coprosma

Family

Rubiaceae

Authority

Coprosma areolata Cheeseman

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

COPARE

Chromosome number

2n = 44

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.

2012 | Not Threatened

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Brief description

Common bushy tall shrub with pairs of small thin pointed leaves. Twigs hairy. Leaves thin, veins visible, tapering to both the sharp tip and leaf stalk, with small pit at junction of veins, in pairs with a small long-tipped scale between the base of the leaf stems. Fruit dark purple.

Distribution

North, South and Stewart Islands.

Habitat

Lowland to lower montane forest.

Features

Shrub or tree up to 3 (-5) m tall, leafy appearance. Branches slender, usually fastigiate, bark grey to fawn-grey; branchlets finely pubescent, pale fawn. Leaves yellow-green to brown-green, fascicled on short branchlets; petioles slender, finely pubescent to pilose, winged 3-7 mm long. Stipules small. obtuse, pubescent to pilose, with conspicuous sharp dark denticle. Lamina membranous, glabrous or nearly so above, sparsely pubescent below, broad-elliptic to obovate, acute to sub-acuminate, apiculate, cuneately narrowed to base, more or less 9-10 (-17) x 7-10 mm. Reticulated veins evident above and below. Flowers, dioecious, solitary or 2-4 together, terminal on short branchlets. Male flower without calyx; corolla broad-funnelform, lobes ovate, acute, more or less equal to tube. Female flower with minute calyx-teeth; corolla sub-campanulate, lobes more or less equal to tube. Drupe dark purple to almost black, globose, 4-5 mm diameter.

Similar taxa

Coprosma rotundifolia has rounder, hairier, thicker leaves lacking an obvious network of veins (often with purple blotches), and orange fruit.

C. tenuicaulis, which also has prominent vein networks and black round fruit, can be distinguished by a conspicuous terminal tuft of hairs on the stipule. The leaves are thicker in C. tenuicaulis and much less hairy, and the stems are long and slender between the leaf clusters.

C. virescens has leaves less obviously netted with veins, hairless leaf stalks, distinctively patterned bark on trunks and larger branches, usually 3 denticles at the tip of each stipule, and a yellowish white, oblong drupe.

Flowering

October-December

Flower colours

Green

Fruiting

(November-) December-April

Life cycle

Fleshy drupes are dispersed by frugivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Etymology

coprosma: From the Greek kopros ‘dung’ and osme ‘smell’, referring to the foul smell of the species, literally ‘dung smell’

areolata: Netted, with a network pattern between the veins

TAXONOMIC NOTES

Unlike many Coprosma spp. which may occasionally have hermaphrodite flowers present, this species is regarded as strictly dioecious.

Attribution

Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961), and Wilson & Galloway (1993).

References and further reading

Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg. 578-579, 587.

Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309.

Wilson, H. D., & Galloway, T. 1993. Small-leaved shrubs of New Zealand. Manuka Press. pg. 86-87.

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