Cheeskman. — On the Genus Coprosma. 239 



smaller size, spreading branches, dark-coloured bark, more 

 glabrous leaves and branchlets, smaller and more coriaceous 

 leaves, and perfectly black globose fruit. 



14. C. tenuicaulis. 



Hook, fil., Flora Nov. Zeal., i., p. 106 ; Handbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 115. 



North Island. — Not uncommon, especially in swampy forests. 

 I have seen no South Island specimens. Altitudinal range from 

 sea-level to 500 feet. 



A densely and widely branched shrub, 4-8 feet high. 

 Branches slender, bark plum-colour or dark purplish-brown ; 

 young branchlets finely and shortly puberulous. Leaves in 

 opposite pairs, ^-^ inch long, orbicular or ovate-spathulate, 

 obtuse, somewhat coriaceous, flat, glabrous on both surfaces, 

 narrowed into a broad flat petiole ; veins reticulated in large 

 areoles. Flowers axillary, solitary or more generally in 2-3- 

 flowered fascicles. Males: No true calyx, but the usual calycine 

 involucre present. Corolla broadly campanulate, ^-J inch 

 long, 4-5-lobed. Stamens, 4-5. Females : tuhnlaY, ^-^ inch 

 long. Calyx - limb truncate. Corolla, 3-5-lobed. Drupe 

 globose or depresso-globose, ^-^ inch diameter, shining black. 



A distinct and well-marked species, which keeps its charac- 

 ters well in all stations. I have already pointed out its differ- 

 ences from C. areolata, which is its nearest ally. It is also 

 closely related to C, rhamnoides, some broad-leaved forms of 

 which come very close. But C. rhamnoides always has much 

 more pubescent branches, and usually narrower and more 

 pointed leaves, with very different venation, and the drupe is 

 usually red. 



15. C. rhamnoides. 



A. Cunn., Prodr., ii., p. 206; Hook, fil., Flora Nov. Zeal., i., p. 107; Handbk. 

 N.Z. Flora, p. 116 ; Eaoul, Choix des Plantes, p. 46. C. divaricata, A. 

 Cunn. Prodr., ii., p. 207, not of Hook. fil. C. concinna. Col., Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst., xvi., p. 330. C. heterophil lla, Col., Trans. N.Z. Inst., xviii., 

 p. 263. ? C. gracilis, A. Cunn., Prodr. 



North and South Islands. — Abundant throughout, from the 

 North Cape to Stewart Island. Altitudinal range from sea-level 

 to 3,000 feet. 



A small, densely-branched bush, 2-6 feet high. Branches 

 spreading, stiff, rigid, and often interlaced in exposed places ; 

 more slender and open in shaded. Bark greyish, or reddish- 

 brown, fissured. Ultimate branches densely pubescent, with 

 short stiff white hairs. Leaves very variable in shape and tex- 

 ture, from orbicular or broadly-ovate to narrow oblong, and in 

 some varieties lanceolate or even linear leaves are mixed with 

 the broader ones ; rounded, retuse, or acute, narrowed into a 

 very short petiole, from coriaceous to almost membranous ; 



