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  4. Coprosma cheesemanii

Coprosma cheesemanii

Fruit. Flagstaff, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, 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>
Flagstaff, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, 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>
Stipule. Flagstaff, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, 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>
Leith Saddle, Dunedin.<br>Photographer: John Barkla, 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>
Steele Creek, Greenstone.<br>Photographer: John Barkla, Date taken: 01/03/2013, 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>
Waihohonu Track, Tongariro N.P.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 14/10/2013, 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>
Waihohonu Track, Tongariro N.P.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 14/10/2013, 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>
Swampy Summit.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 11/05/2014, 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>
Swampy Summit.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 11/05/2014, 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>
Swampy Summit.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 11/05/2014, 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>
Tongariro, February.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
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Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

Simplified description

Low growing, very small leaved shrub with branches bearing perpendicular short leafy branches giving a flattened appearance inhabiting upland areas. Twigs fuzzy. Leaves glossy, narrow, 8-11mm long, tip pointed, in clusters of pairs, with a line of small hairs between the leaf bases. Fruit orange or reddish.

Flower colours

Green

Detailed description

Prostrate to sprawling shrub up to 0.5 (-1) m tall. Branches greyish, more or less divaricate, branchlets slender; pubescent. Leaves very shortly petioled. Stipules broadly triangular, obtuse, pubescent to villous, ciliate especially at apex. Lamina coriaceous, glossy, olive-green, linear to narrow-oblong, acute, more or less 8-11 x 1-2 mm, margins usually reddish brown. Midrib alone evident. Flowers solitary, terminal on short branchlets. Male flower without calyx; corolla broadly campanulate; lobes 4-6, acute to subacute, more or less equal to tube. Female Flower with calyx-teeth evident, acute, corolla-tube short, lobes linear more or less reflexed. Drupe orange-red, globose, 6-7 mm diameter.

Similar taxa

Coprosma cuneata has indented tips to the leaves and dark bark on the branchlets.

C. microcarpa has small while fruit, abundant leaves that are rather thin and often arranged in flat leafy planes, and dark brown bark.

C. acerosa and its close relatives have longer, narrower leaves, and pale blue or white fruit often flecked with darker blue.

C. fowerakeri is more densely leafy, with closely clustered, more leathery leaves and orange fruit.

Distribution

Endemic. North, South and Stewart Islands. Locally from Mount Hikurangi southwards.

Habitat

Montane to subalpine 400-1500m, tussock-grassland, shrubland, bog forest, often permanently damp areas.

Current conservation status

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2023 | Not Threatened

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Rubiaceae

Authority

Coprosma cheesemanii W.R.B.Oliv.

Synonyms

Coprosma depressa (Hook. f.) Cheeseman

Taxonomic notes

Wilson & Galloway (1993) briefly discuss other related spp.: Coprosma aff. cheesemanii (C. sp. (r) of Eagle 1982) is a prostrate shrub with narrow oblong leaves and orange-red fruit. It is restricted to pans of Nelson and Marlborough where it grows in crevices of marble and on the Mineral Belt ultramafic rocks. Coprosma aff. cheesemanii (C. sp. (o) of Eagle 1982) is a prostrate or sprawling shrub up to 70 cm tall with distinctly wider leaves than in C. cheesemanii proper, with which it grows in the central North Island. It is found in subalpine and alpine shrubland in the central North Island southwards to the southern Ruahine Range. A. P. Druce recognises both of these forms as distinct unnamed species.

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

December

Fruiting

January-March

Life cycle and dispersal

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

Wetland plant indicator status rating

Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]

FACU: Facultative Upland

Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).

Other information

Etymology

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

cheesemanii: Named after Thomas Frederick Cheeseman (1846 - 15 October 1923) who was a New Zealand botanist and naturalist who, in 1906, produced The Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

Manaaki Whenua Online Interactive Key

Key to Coprosma species of New Zealand

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.

COPCHE

Chromosome number

2n = 88

Previous conservation statuses

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | Not Threatened

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Jump to current conservation status

Regional conservation statuses

Otago: 2024 | Regionally Not Threatened

The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg. 568, 586-587.

Eagle, A. 1982. Eagle’s trees and shrubs of New Zealand. Vol. 2. Auckland, Collins.

Mark, A. F. 2012. Above the Treeline: A Nature Guide to Alpine New Zealand. Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson. pg. 169.

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. 89-91.

Attribution

Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961), Mark (2012), Wilson & Galloway (1993).

Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.

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