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  4. Coprosma crassifolia

Coprosma crassifolia

Te Moehau. February.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Wyuna Bay, Coromandel. April.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Otakaha Stream, Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 15/03/2008, 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>
Otakaha Stream, Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 15/03/2008, 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>
Otakaha Stream, Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 15/03/2008, 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>
Windshorn plant. Aramoana.<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>
Bark. Hayward Point, 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>
Coprosma crassifolia.<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>
Mangatoetoe Stream, Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2010, 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>
Pistillate flowers. Mangatoetoe Stream, Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2010, 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>
Staminate flowers. Mangatoetoe Stream, Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2010, 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>
Staminate flowers. Mangatoetoe Stream, Palliser Bay.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/10/2010, 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>
Female flowers.<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>
Pistillate flowers. Eastern Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 10/10/2010, 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>
Longlands Pastoral Lease.<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>
Abaxial leaf surface, Hokonui Hills, Southland.<br>Photographer: Jesse Bythell, Date taken: 19/12/2015, 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>
Adaxial leaf surface, Hokonui Hills, Southland.<br>Photographer: Jesse Bythell, Date taken: 19/12/2015, 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>
Foliage, Hokonui Hills, Southland.<br>Photographer: Jesse Bythell, Date taken: 19/12/2015, 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>
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Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

Simplified description

Shrub with wide-angled reddish branches and pairs of small thick round or oval glossy leaves that are white underneath. Twigs covered in small hairs towards tip. Leaves 6-10mm long, with very small hairs around the margin. Fruit yellowish or white.

Flower colours

Green

Detailed description

Much-branched shrub, up to 1-2 (-4) m tall. Branches rigid, divaricate, bark dark reddish brown; branchlets rather slender, more or less interlacing, often sculptured, pubescent when young. Leaves few together in fascicles on short branchlets, or paired; petioles narrowly winged, 1-2 mm long, pubescent. Stipules triangular, acute, pubescent, ciliolate (sometimes with denticle at tip). Lamina thick, coriaceous, dark green above, whitish to subglaucous below, suborbicular to oval to broad-oblong, rounded to subtruncate, abruptly narrowed to base, 6-10 (-15) x (3-) 5 (-10) mm; margins ciliolate when young, recurved. Venation more or less obscure on both surfaces, or midrib evident below. Flowers unisexual. Male flower solitary or 2-4 together on short branchlets; calyx not present; corolla funnelform, lobes ovate, acute, equal to or greater than tube. Female flower solitary, terminal on short branchlets; calyx-teeth minute; corolla-tube short, lobes long, narrow, acute. Drupe pale yellow or white, globose, 5-6 mm diameter.

Similar taxa

Distinguished from all other Coprosma species by the pale to white undersides of the thick, dark green leaves. Coprosma obconica has pale undersides to leaves, but has distinctive fruit, broader than long and tapering to the point of attachment like an inverted cone; yellowish white with purple grey streaks. The leaves also usually have a final little denticle on the rounded tips, lacking in C. crassifolia.

Distribution

North and South Islands. Often east of main ranges in both islands except in Northland where found anywhere with suitable habitat.

Habitat

Coastal rocky and sandy lowland to lower montane shrubland and forest, up to 600 m.

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 crassifolia Colenso

Taxonomic notes

Plants found in under canopy situation have larger, thinner leaves and a more open branching habit.

In Allan (1961), Oliver accepts hybridism between C. crassifolia x C. tenuicaulis (from specimens now in Auckland collected by Cranwell and Moore on Maungapohatu; C. crassifolia x C. rigida; C. crassifolia x C. robusta (C. buchananii Kirk).

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

September-October

Fruiting

November-June

Life cycle and dispersal

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

Other information

Etymology

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

crassifolia: From the Latin crassus’ thick and folius ‘leaf’

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.

COPCRA

Chromosome number

2n = 132

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

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.

Otago: 2024 | Regionally Not Threatened | Qualifiers: TL

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg. 577, 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. 104-105.

Attribution

Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961) and 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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