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  4. Coprosma fowerakeri

Coprosma fowerakeri

Minaret Burn, in fruit, March.<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 fowerakeri, Ahuriri Conservation Park.<br>Photographer: John Barkla, Date taken: 14/01/2020, 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 fowerakeri, Ida Range.<br>Photographer: John Barkla, Date taken: 22/01/2018, 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>
Arthurs pass, May.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Arthurs pass, May.<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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Common names

Foweraker’s coprosma

Biostatus

Native – Endemic taxon

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

Simplified description

Low-growing shrub with wide-angled curved branches bearing small thick narrow dark green or leaves inhabiting mountainous areas of the South Island. Leaves pointed, curved, in clusters of pairs. A few small dark teeth on stem between leaf pairs. Fruit orange.

Flower colours

Green, Yellow

Detailed description

Decumbent, prostrate, to semi-erect, evergreen, dioecious shrub up to 0.60 m tall, with numerous, spreading, long-trailing branches up to 1(-2) m long and 15 mm diam.; these frequently rooting on contact with soil. Main stems 2-5(-8), decumbent; lateral branches decussate, numerous, stout, markedly recurved, rarely straight. Mature outer bark grey to dark silver-grey; inner bark dark green. Brachyblasts numerous and very leafy, arising in tightly but evenly spaced pairs along stem, leafy, internodes 0.1- 0.2 mm, scarcely visible, being + or - obscured by leaves and/or stipules. Leaves glabrous, opposite, densely clustered on short shoots; petioles 0.2-1 mm, stout, lamina 5-7(-10) x 1-3(-5) mm, markedly involute, oblanceolate to elliptic, fleshy-coriaceous to almost succulent, glabrous, margins entire, smooth, apex acute to subacute, base cuneate to attenuate, dark green to bronze-green, sometimes yellow-green; domatia absent; midrib and lateral veins not or hardly apparent on either surface. Stipules 0.3-1.0 mm long, shortly sheathing, chartaceous, glabrous except for densely ciliate distal portion; apex margin entire or bifid; hairs of distal portion flexuous, initially pale yellow fading to white; associated glandular denticles 2-6, evenly spaced, black, deciduous. Flowers axillary, located in axils of uppermost leaves of previous season’s growth flush, solitary or paired. Male flowers larger than female flowers. Pedicels 0.15-0.20 mm long, sparsely hairy, maroon, spotted yellow-green, each with a basal, tubular, connate bracteole; bracteoles c. 0.5-0.6 mm long, lobes obovate-oblong, dark green, glabrous. Calyx reduced, pale green, lobes 4, obovate-oblong, basal portion green fading to pale green in distal third; margins + or - glabrous, rarely eglandular ciliate near the apex. Corolla 5-6 mm long; tube 1-1.5 mm long, funnelform; basal portion green, remainder green-yellow, with margins usually pigmented dark-red to purple; lobes 4, broadly lanceolate to ovate-acute, 3.5-4 x 1.5-2 mm, recurved, minutely papillose at apex and on inside. Stamens 4. Filaments 5¡V6 mm long, pale green or green-yellow. Anthers 2.5-3 x 1-1.5 mm, ovate, elliptic to + or - rhomboid; pollen yellow. Female flowers with pedicels similar to male flowers. Calyx much reduced, 4-lobed, adnate to ovary. Corolla tube 2-2.5 mm long, narrowly funnelform, green-yellow with margins pale pink, vinous or purple in distal portion; corolla lobes 4, lanceolate-ovate 0.50 x 0.25 mm, recurved, minutely papillose-pubescent at apex and on inside. Ovary ovoid, 2-locular, green. Style branches 2, 6-9 mm long, terete, at first straight then recurving slightly in upper third, twisting markedly on drying, papillose-pubescent; stigmatic hairs 0.1 mm long, pale green to yellow. Drupes globose to subglobose; 4-5(-6) x 3-5(-6) mm bright orange, red or yellow; calyx lobes persistent as a central 0.5-1 mm stub. Pyrenes (1-)2, unequal, when two then the larger (2.5)-3-(4.5) x (1.8-)2.0(-2.8) mm, ovate-elliptic to oblong-elliptic; plano-convex, roughened on the inner face; operculum usually indistinct, c. 1/3 of pyrene length.

Similar taxa

Differs from Coprosma pseudocuneata by the smaller, decumbent, long-trailing growth form, numerous, stout, recurved, lateral branches, numerous short, stout very leafy brachyblasts, coriaceous involute leaves, shortly sheathing conspicuously denticulate stipules, and tetraploid chromosome number.

Distribution

Endemic. South Island

Habitat

Subalpine to alpine, usually within boulder falls and at the base of scree.

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 fowerakeri D.A.Norton et de Lange

Synonyms

None (first described in 2003)

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

December - March

Fruiting

December - May

Life cycle and dispersal

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

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh seed and cuttings but rather slow.

Other information

Etymology

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

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.

COPFOW

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

Norton, D.A.; de Lange, P.J. 2003: A new species of Coprosma (Rubiaceae) from the South Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 41: 223-231.

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 based on: Norton and de Lange (2003)

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Coprosma fowerakeri Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/coprosma-fowerakeri/ (Date website was queried)

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