Coprosma crassifolia
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
Detailed taxonomy
Family
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
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
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.