390 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



Genus Coprosma. 



Shrubs or trees, very variable in size and appearance. Leaves opposite, 

 rarely whorled, often pitted on the under-surface, in the axils of the veins. 

 Flowers regular. Calyx 4 - 5-toothed or lobed ; corolla campanulate or funnel- 

 shaped, 4-5-lobed. Stamens 4-5. Anthers exserted. Styles divided into from 

 2-4 lobes, usually long. Drupe round or oval. (Name from the Greek, signifying 

 excrement, in allusion to the smell of one or two species.) 39 sp. 



New Zealand has no more highly developed, or characteristic 

 genus, than Coprosma. The name is derived from the Greek, 

 and refers to the evil odour that the leaves of certain species 

 give out, when bruised. Anyone who has forced his way 

 through scrub, formed of the well named C. fcetidissima, 

 knows that the smell from it becomes in time almost insup- 

 portable. The stench is somewhat suggestive of carbon 

 bi-sulphide, but apparently no attempt has yet been made to 

 determine its source. There are some forty species in the 

 genus, ranging in size from small prostrate shrubs, to trees 

 of 20 ft. to 30 ft. high. In some parts of New Zealand the 

 scrub consist^ chiefly of Coprosma. The most characteristic 

 species of the genus are twiggy shrubs, which frequently 

 cover the ground so thickly, that it is impossible to force a 

 way through them. Oftentimes, the only method of getting 

 past the coprosma-scrub is to walk over the top of it. This 

 method of progression, however, is not a very satisfactory one, 

 as there is not a little risk of falling through, up to the neck. 

 The shrubby coprosmas generally produce small, round, or 

 linear leaves, less than an inch in length. It must not, 

 however, be imagined that all shrubs with small leaves and 

 twiggy interlacing branches, belong to this genus. 



It has already been pointed out that there is a considerable 

 number of species of plants, which, in a juvenile stage of their 

 existence, assume a coprosma-like appearance (v. Hoheria 

 angustifolia, p. 256.) Other plants, in their mature forms, 

 also often resemble the coprosma type, e.g., Olearia virgata, 

 Myrtus pedunculata, Paratrophis, etc. 



