116 
XXXVIII. RUBIACEj®. 
[Coprosma. 
coriaceous, in larger membranous and puberulous wlien young, contracted into 
petioles of variable length ; veins not reticulated. Flowers ; — male : not seen ; 
fem. : axillary, solitary, minute, in. long ; calyx-tube glabrous, limb short, 
tubular, unequally and often irregularly 4- or 5-lobed ; corolla 4- or 5-partite, 
almost to the base ; styles slender. Drupe small, obovoid, a— l in. long, vari- 
able in size and colour. 
Common in the Northern and probably throughout the islands, Otago, Lyall. I am 
greatly puzzled with this plant, which is the C. divaricata, 5. latifolia, and e. coriacea, of 
my N. Z. Flora, and in Cunningham’s Herbarium is mixed with C. rhamnoides, and is with 
difficulty distinguished from it ; its prominent characters are, the very slender branches di- 
varicating at right angles, the smooth brown bark, almost glabrous twigs, and female corolla 
not tubular and cleft at the mouth, but spreading and divided to the base. The large-leaved 
form ( latifolia ) has larger membranous rounded leaves, somewhat pubescent helow, the smaller 
( coriacea ) has more coriaceous spathulate leaves. Of the variety y. pallida of FI. N. Z., 
which has young male flowers only, I can make out nothing more ; it has pale hark, and 
spathulate leaves, opposite throughout the twigs, it was collected by Colenso in the Waira- 
rapa valley, where it forms a small tree 5-7 ft. high, and where also the true divaricata 
grows. Cunningham’s C. gracilis (divaricata, /3. gracilis, FI. N. Z.) has neither flower 
nor fruit, and is, I now think, referable to C. rhamnoides, having more pubescent twdgs than 
C. divaricata. 
14. C. parviflora. Hook. f. FI. N. Z. i. 107. A large dense rigid 
branching leafy bush. Branches slender, pubescent, divaricating more or less ; 
bark pale-grey. Leaves small, rather close-set, fascicled on lateral branchlets, 
very uniform, y— | in. long, obovate or linear-oblong, rounded at tip, rarely 
subacute, very shortly petioled, rigid, flat, not shining, dark-brown when dry, 
very obscurely veined ; stipules pubescent, ciliate. Flowers minute, lateral, 
solitary, subsessile ; — male : calyx cupular, 4-toothed ; corolla in. long, 
broadly bell-shaped, 4-partite ; — -fem. : calyx-limb glabrous, tube very short, 
jagged, and ciliolate; corolla T¥ in., 4- or 6-cleft f way down ; style in. 
Drupe ovoid, i— y in. — C. myrtillifolia, a, FI. Antarct. i. 21 ; FI. N. L. i. 108. 
Northern and Middle Islands : low grounds ; common in woods as far south as Otago, 
also on the mountains, Tougariro and Ruahiue range, Colenso and Bidwitl. Auckland’s 
Island, J.D.H. I think that my C. myrtillifolia of Lord Auckland’s Island is referable to 
this very common species, and as it was described without flower or fruit, that name had 
better be abandoned. Its axillary minute flowers distinguish it well from C. Colensoi, and 
its very coriaceous uniform leaves from C. divaricata, rhamnoides, and tenuicaulis. 
15. C. propinqua, A. Cunn. ; — FI. N. Z. i. 109. Tall, erect, glabrous, 
woody, sparingly leafy, 4-8 ft. high. Branches divaricating, glabrous, scarcely 
puberulous at the tips ; bark brown. Leaves usually in pairs on short axil- 
lary branchlets, y — \ in. long, yV~ro hroad, narrow linear-oblong, obtuse, 
narrowed at the base, nearly flat, coriaceous, veins indistinct ; stipules obtuse, 
glabrous. Flowers lateral; — male: fascicled, A— in. long ; calyx cupular, 4- 
or 5-toothed; corolla bell-shaped, 4- or 5 -cleft nearly to the base; — fem..: 
calyx glabrous, limb tubular, 4- or 5-toothed ; corolla not seen. Drupe ovoid, 
in. long. 
Northern Island : common from the Bay of Islands, A. Cunningham, to Hawke’s Bay, 
Colenso, in wet places. This is the C. propinqua, a and FI. N. Z. ;■ — the y. linariifolia 
is certainly a different species, of which I have since procured fine specimens. 
16. C. feetidissima, Forst. ;—Fl. N. Z. i. 105, and ii. 331. A large 
glabrous shrub or small tree 8-20 ft. high, intensely fetid after being bruised, 
