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  4. Coprosma tenuicaulis

Coprosma tenuicaulis

Kennedy bay, March.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
At Kennedy bay, March.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Large leaves of plant in shade. Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 08/04/2007, 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>
Norfolk Road, Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 08/04/2007, 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>
Insect eggs on leaves. Te Marua, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 14/04/2007, 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>
Stipule. Te Marua, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 14/04/2007, 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 tenuicaulis.<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>
Coprosma tenuicaulis.<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>
Manganui, south-west Wairarapa. Apr 2012.<br>Photographer: Patrick Enright, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Manganui, south-west Wairarapa. Apr 2012.<br>Photographer: Patrick Enright, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Abaxial leaf surface and stipule. Manganui, southwest Wairarapa. Apr 2012.<br>Photographer: Patrick Enright, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Cultivated, male flowers and flower buds.<br>Photographer: Bill Clarkson, 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>
Norfolk Road, Wairarapa.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 08/04/2007, 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>
Kaitoke Ridge Track, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 25/01/2010, 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>
Kaitoke Ridge Track, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 25/01/2010, 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>
Kaitoke Ridge Track, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 25/01/2010, 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>
Kaitoke Ridge Track, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 25/01/2010, 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>
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Common name

swamp coprosma, hukihuki

Synonyms

Coprosma tenuicaulis var. major Cheeseman

Family

Rubiaceae

Authority

Coprosma tenuicaulis Hook.f.

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons

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.

COPTEC

Chromosome number

2n = 44

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.

2012 | Not Threatened

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Brief description

Erect bushy shrub with long thin twigs bearing pairs of thin rounded leaves on short flattened leaf stalks inhabiting wetland sites. Leaves mottled, 8-13mm long. Small tuft of longer hairs on hairy stem between leaf bases (sometimes a small dark tooth also present). Skin of fruit dark reddish-black to black, flesh dark purple.

Distribution

Endemic. North and South Islands from Kaitaia to about Okarito

Habitat

Lowland (rarely montane) in swamps and boggy ground, poorly drained shrubland and riparian forest.

Features

Shrub up to c.3 m tall; branches slender, filiramulate, subdivaricate, usually interlacing; branchlets slender, pubescent. Leaves on more or less winged, slender, pubescent petioles 3-5 mm long. Stipules small, triangular, subacute, more or less pubescent, ciliate, terminal tuft consipicuous. Lamina subcoricaeous, glabrous, orbicular-ovate, spathulate, obtuse, minutely apiculate, more or less 8-13 × 8-10 mm. Reticulations of veins evident on both surfaces. Male flowers in fascicles of 3-6; calyx 0; corolla funnelform, lobes more or less = tube, ovate, acute. Female flower solitary or in axillary clusters of 2-4 along short branchlets; calyx-teeth minute; corolla funnelform, lobes ovate, acute, = or > tube. Drupe black, globose, 3-4 mm diameter.

Similar taxa

Easily recognised by the filiramulate, subdivaricating growth habit, and leaves which have darker margins and a lighter pigmented central blotch on the upper leaf surface. It is perhaps most likely to be confused with Coprosma virescens which has a superficially similar leaf shape but differs by its preference for better drained soils, greenish trunk, smaller leaves (5-9 x 3-6 mm cf. 8-13 x 9-10 mm in C. tenuicaulis), glabrous to glabrescent rather than pubescent branchlets, and yellowish-white, oblong rather than dark reddish-black to black, globose drupes

Flowering

July - October

Fruiting

March - May

Life cycle

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. Although it flourishes in swamps it is easily grown in poorly draining or free draining soils, in full sun or partial shade.

Etymology

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

tenuicaulis: Thin stalk

Attribution

Description adapted from: Allan, H.H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I, Government Printer, Wellington.

References and further reading

Allan, H.H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I, Government Printer, Wellington.

Cheeseman, T.F. 1885. Description of three new species of Coprosma. Transactions of the Royal Society, 18: 315-317

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

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