Coprosma dodonaeifolia
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Shrub with pairs of long thin wavy pointed leaves inhabiting upland areas in the vicinity of Coromandel and Great Barrier Island. Leaves 6-14cm long, with small pits at junction of veins, with a small spur between the base of the pairs of leaves. Fruit red, in clusters.
Detailed description
Shrub, 2-3 m tall, with slender, erect, opposite branches arising at narrow angles from the stem. Branchlets slender, green, glabrous. Bark of branches reddish brown; branchlets sometimes whorled. Leaves on slender petioles approximately 10-20 mm long. Stipules triangular, denticle prominent. Lamina bright green above, not shining, paler below, thinly coriaceous, narrow-obovate to obovate, acute to obtuse, midrib mucronulately produced; gradually narrowed to petiole; (65-) 100-110 (-120) x (20-) 30-35 mm; margins waved to subundulate. Reticulated nerves more or less evident on both surfaces. Male flower clusters of up to 7-9, corolla conspicuous, lobes triangular, acute, stamens 4-5, prominent. Female flower in clusters of 3 on peduncles approximately 10-20 mm long; calyx-teeth rather long, acute; corolla not seen. Drupe orange-red, oblong, 6-9 mm. long.
Similar taxa
Coprosma tenuifolia has hairy leaf margins and midvein on upper surface; geographically more southern species, from Pirongia in the west and Raukumara Range in the east, the Tararua Range in the South.
Distribution
Endemic. Great and Little Barrier Islands, Coromandel Peninsula south to at least Mt Te Aroha
Habitat
Lowland forest to Alpine scrub, 150-1950 m.a.s.l.
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November-December
Fruiting
January-May (-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’
dodonaeifolia: Dodonaeifolia: from ‘dodonaea’ genus named after Dodonaeus, the Latinised name of Rembert Dodoens (1517-1588), a Belgian botanist; and Latin ‘folium’ meaning leaf, having leaves like Dodonaea.
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.
COPDOD
Chromosome number
2n = 44
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg. 585.
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
Attribution
Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961).
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.