PLATE 79.—COPROSMA LUCIDA. 
Famiry RUBIACE.] [Genus COPROSMA, Forst. 
Coprosma lucida, Forst. Prodr. n. 137; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 246. 
The genus Coprosma is one of the most characteristic of those included in the 
New Zealand flora. Its species are found in all soils and situations, and everywhere 
form a prominent feature of the vegetation, from the sea-coast to an altitude of at 
least 6,500 ft., and from the Kermadec Islands in the north to Campbell Island 
and Macquarie Island in the south. There are no districts in the Dominion in 
which some species of Coprosma are not abundant, and in many localities 
they form associations which give a distinct facies to the vegetation. Under 
such circumstances the first explorers of the botany of New Zealand could not 
fail to become acquainted with the genus, and it is not surprising to learn 
that one species at least, the widely distributed C. acerosa, was gathered by 
Banks and Solander on the day when they first landed in New Zealand— 
8th October, 1769. Later on during Cook’s first voyage other species were 
collected in various localities, and among them the subject of the present plate. 
Dr. Solander, in his unpublished work on the flora of New Zealand, included all 
these in a genus which he called Pelaphia, but this is not a valid name, as it 
was never actually published. 
The name Coprosma was first used by the two Forsters in their ‘* Characteres 
Generum Plantarum,” published in 1776. In it two species were admitted— 
the well-known C. fetidissima (see Plate 83), and the subject of the present 
plate, to which they gave the name of C. lucida. At the present time over 
sixty species are known, of which forty are natives of New Zealand. Outside 
this country the genus extends to Australia and Tasmania, and northwards to 
New Guinea and Borneo. It also stretches through Polynesia as far north as 
the Sandwich Islands, and eastwards to Juan Fernandez. Whilst its centre of 
distribution is in New Zealand itself, its Polynesian and Malayan extension is a 
matter of significance to those interested in the affinities and origin of the New 
Zealand flora. 
Coprosma lucida is a well-known and abundant plant, found throughout 
the whole of the Dominion, from the North Cape to Stewart Island, and ranging 
from sea-level to considerably over 3,000 ft. Like most species of the genus, it 
is extremely variable. When growing in the open it usually forms a “compact 
round-topped shrub, sometimes only a few feet in height; the leaves are very 
thick and coriaceous, conspicuously obovate, and thus decidedly obtuse. But 
when found in the forest it is taller, much more sparingly branched; and the 
leaves are less coriaceous and of a darker green, and are often subacute. 
Comparing it with the other species, its nearest ally is undoubtedly C. grandi- 
folia, with which it agrees in its lax well-developed inflorescence. But 
C. grandifolia has much larger, thinner, and more membranous leaves, and has a 
much more open habit of ‘growth. C. robusta, which is often mistaken for it 
when out of flower, has darker- green more elliptic always acute leaves, and the 
inflorescence is much less developed, the flowers being congested into dense 
axillary glomerules. All the other large-leaved species are amply distinct. 
Puate 79. Coprosma lucida, male, female, and fruit, drawn from specimens collected in the 
vicinity of Auckland. Fig. 1, portion of under-surface of leaf, showing the “domatia”’ in the axils 
made by the main veins with the midrib (enlarged); 2, bract (x 4); 3, unexpanded bud of male 
flower (x 4); 4, fully expanded male flower (x 4); 5 and 6, front and back view of anthers (x 8) ; 
7, female flower (x 4); 8, section of ovary (x 4); 9, section of fruit (x 2); 10, pyrene from fruit 
(x 2); 11, section of pyrene (x 2); 12, seed (x 3); 13, section of seed (x 3); 14, embryo (x 3). 
