390 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



Genus Coprosnia. 



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

 e:rrrt'iitc]tf, in allusion to the smell of one or two s2:)ecies.) 39 sp. 



New Zealand has no more highly developed, or characteristic 

 genus, than Goprosma. The name is derived from the G-reek, 

 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. foetidissima, 

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

 portable. The stench is somewlrat suggestive of carbon 

 bi-sulpliide, 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. liigh. In some parts of New Zealand the 

 scrub consists chiefly of Goprosma. 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 

 inethod of progression, liowever, is not a very satisfactory one, 

 as there is often much 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 jilants, which, in a juvenile stage of their 

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

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

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

 Mt/rtus pedunculata, Paratrophi.s, etc. 



