Coprosma rubra
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Rare small bushy small-leaved wide-angled shrub with reddish bark and fuzzy twigs. Leaves thin, usually 10–15 mm long but up to 2.5 cm long, gradually narrowing to a winged stalk that has tiny hairs (lens needed), small black tip on stem between leaf bases, leaf margins sometimes hairy. Fruit yellowish-white.
Flower colours
Green
Detailed description
Shrub up to 4 m tall; branches rather slender, filiramulate, weakly divaricating. Bark reddish brown; branchlets finely pubescent. Leaves membranous; petioles 4–6 mm. long more or less pubescent-ciliolate, winged. Stipules small, triangular, pubescent, usually terminated by single denticle. Lamina glabrous or nearly so, broad-ovate to oblong, obtuse, sometimes mucronulate, narrowed to subtruncate base; 10–25 × 6–15 mm; margins sometimes ciliolate; reticulations usually evident on both surfaces, at least when leaf fresh. Male flowers 1–6 on short branchlets; calyx 0; corolla funnelform, lobes about = tube, ovate, acute. Female flowers solitary or 2–3 together on short branchlets; calyx-teeth linear-triangular, obtuse, c .¾ length of corolla-tube, corolla lobes > tube, narrow-linear. Drupe yellowish white, oblong, 4–6 mm long.
Similar taxa
Coprosma rubra is superficially similar to the much more widespread C. rotundifolia. Coprosma rubra differs from C. rotundifolia by its smaller leaves (10–18 × 6–13 mm cf. 15–25 × 10–20 mm in C. rotundifolia), female flowers whose calyces have conspicuous linear rather than inconspicuous minute teeth, and oblong, yellowish-white to white rather than red or white globose drupes. Both species may be found growing together.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North Island (sporadic in Northland around the upper Wairoa River and Pipiwai, more common from Hawke’s Bay and Taihape south), South Island. Mostly eastern but often absent or very uncommon over large parts of its range.
Habitat
Lowland to montane. Usually in riparian forest and shrubland, especially on alluvial soils or those derived from calcareous parent materials.
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.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- 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 – Declining | Qualifiers: DPR, DPS, DPT, PF
Threats
Previously listed as Data Deficient because in some parts of its range it appears to be in decline and in other areas it is extremely uncommon.
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Rubiaceae
Synonyms
Coprosma rubra var. pendula (Colenso) Kirk
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
September–January
Fruiting
February–August
Life cycle and dispersal
Fleshy drupes are dispersed by frugivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easy from fresh seed and semi-hardwood cuttings. An attractive shrub to small tree that does well in dappled light. Should be planted in a free draining but moist, fertile soil.
Other information
Where To Buy
Not commercially available
Etymology
coprosma: From the Greek kopros ‘dung’ and osme ‘smell’, referring to the foul smell of the species, literally ‘dung smell’
rubra: Red
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.
COPRUB
Chromosome number
2n = 44
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Data Deficient
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan HH. 1961. Flora of New Zealand, Volume I. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 1085 p.
Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2009.06.001.
Attribution
Description adapted 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.