Coprosma .] 
XXXVIII. RUBIACEiE. 
Ill 
or bell-shaped ; tube straight or curved ; lobes 4 or 5, rarely 6-9, valvate. 
Stamens 4 or 5, rarely 6-9, inserted on the base of the corolla ; filaments fili- 
form, exserted; anthers linear, apiculate, pendulous. Ovary 2- rarely 8- or 4- 
cellcd ; styles 2 (3 or 4), filiform, exserted, pubescent ; ovule 1, erect in each 
cell. Drupe ovoid or round, with 2 (rarely 4) plano-convex 1 -seeded cocci. 
A large and extremely variable New Zealand genus, of which a few species inhabit the 
Pacific islands, Tasmania, temperate Australia, and the lofty mountaiu of Kini Balou, in 
Borneo. The New Zealand species are most difficult of discrimination, owing to their ex- 
treme variability, their being dioecious, and their very small flowers. I distinguish two 
chief groups, oue with solitary female flowers, the other with these fascicled ; then again 
some of the former have the flower obviously terminal on the shoot, between the uppermost 
pair of leaves ; others have it apparently lateral, springing from the side of the shoot or 
branch below the leaves, — in other words, the flower is still terminal, but in shoots that are 
habitually leafless. In all cases connate stipules are abundantly developed below the flowers, 
forming one or more series of cup-shaped involucels to the calyx. In some cases the calyx of 
the male flower is reduced or absent, and the upper series of connate stipules may be taken for it. 
It is not always easy to say whether this is so or no ; and the structure of the calyx wants 
working out from fresh specimens. The following analysis of the supposed species is very 
imperfect ; it has cost me several weeks’ assiduous study of many specimens ; many more 
are, however, wanted to establish the constancy or even prevalence of the characters em- 
ployed, especially of the Northern Island species. The descriptions of the ten species origi- 
nally published by A. Cunningham (Ann. Nat. Hist. (1839), ii. 206) are very faulty and incom- 
plete, and the specimens in his Herbarium were much intermixed. Those in my ‘ Flora of 
New Zealand,’ also, are very defective in regard to the alpine and Middle Island species, of 
which I have now better materials. As with so many other genera, it is vain to expect to name 
single specimens of single species ; the characters are in most cases comparative, and until 
some general notion of the prevalent forms of the genus is obtained, the distinctive charac- 
ters of the species, such as they are, cannot be appreciated, nor in some cases understood. 
1. Shrubs or trees, erect, rarely prostrate , never creeping and rooting. 
A. Female flowers aggregated ( rarely solitary). Leaves glabrous, rarely fascicled, 
a. Leaves 3-8 in., membranous, greenish when dry. Peduncles 1-2 in. 
Leaves 3-6 in. Corolla ^ in., tubular 1. C. lucida. 
Leaves 4-8 in. Corolla in., bell- or funnel-shaped .... 2. (7. grandifolia. 
f3. Leaves 1—3 in., black or brown when dry. Peduncle 0 or -(-1 in. long. 
Robust, maritime ; twigs glabrous. Leaves obovate, margins re- 
curved 3. C. Baueriana. 
Slender, maritime ; twigs pubescent. Leaves 1-2 in., obovate . 4. C. peliolata. 
Robust. Leaves 2-3 in., oblong, coriaceous, acute 5. C. robusta. 
Leaves 1-2 in., linear or linear-oblong, subacute 6. C. Cunninghamii. 
Leaves 1-2 in., membranous, ovate-oblong, acute 1. C. acutifolia. 
Slender. Leaves orbicular or spatlmlate, petioles broad, flat . . 8. C. spathulata. 
B. Female flowers solitary, males solitary or fascicled, 
a. Twigs hirsute or densely pubescent. Leaves more or less pubescent, especially the young. 
Leaves i-f in. orbicular, membranous, cuspidate. Drupe didy- 
mous 9. C. rotundifolia. 
Leaves $—§ in., oblong or obovate, blunt or subacute 10. C. ciliata. 
/3. Twigs glabrous or pubescent. Leaves glabrous (or puberulous in C. divaricata 
and tenuicaulis) . 
Flowers lateral. Leaves broad, small, i-| in., spathulate oblong 
or orbicular. 
Leaves puberulous below, veins reticulate 11. C. tenuicaulis. 
Twigs very pubescent. Female corolla long, tubular, 4- or 5 -fid 12. C. rhamnnides. 
Twigs almost glabrous. Female corolla 4- or 5-partite . . .13. C. divaricata. 
