No. 255. 
Canthium coprosmoides F.v.M. 
A Canthium. 
(Family RUBIACE^E.) 
Botanical description. Genus Canthium, see p. 256. 
Botanical description. Species cvprosmaides F.v.M. iii Trans. Phil. lnr,t. Viet., 
iii, 47 (1859). 
Following is the original description : 
Glabrous; leaves thinly coriaceous, ovate, flat, entire, blunt at the apex, tapering into tbc petiole; 
peduncles none; pedicels axillary, solitary or two or three together, scarcely as long as the calyx; lobes 
of the corolla five, rarely four, half as long as the tube, above thin velvety ; faux bearded ; anthers ovate, 
almost sessile ; stigma hemispherical; berry red. 
In scrubs on ridges along the rivers Dawson, Mackenzie and Brisbane. 
Shrub from 6-10 feet high. Leaves 1 to 2J inches long, their stalk 1 J- 3 lines long, above dark-green 
and shining, beneath a little paler, finely veined. Stipules from a broad base subulate, 1J-2 lines long, 
deciduous. Calyx at first bell-shaped, scarcely longer than one line, with five acute and very short teeth. 
Corolla funnel-shaped, outside glabrous and yellowish; its tube inch long; its lobes ovate. Anthers 
5 line long. Style bristlelike, glabrous, not exserted. Stigma slightly concave in the centre, half a line 
in diameter. Berry naked, 3-4 lines long, upwards a little broader, with two nuts. 
Bentham subsequently described it as follows : 
A tall shrub or small tree, quite glabrous. 
Leaves obovate, ovate or broadly elliptical, obtuse, shortly contracted at the base, in some 
specimens all under 2 inches, in others 3-4 inches long, coriaceous but scarcely shining, 
the veins distant and not prominent. 
Flowers 4-merous or 5-merous, very shortly pedicellate, in sessile axillary clusters of three to 
six. 
Corotta-lube slender, fully 4 lines long, bearded inside at the orifice, the lobes about half as long 
as the tube. 
Anthers slightly protruding. 
Style exserted, witli a broad, thick peltate stigma. 
Fruit sometimes \ inch broad, on a pedicel of 2 to 4 lines. (B.F1. iii, 422.) 
Bentham adds " This species is very closely allied to C. barbatum Benth., from 
the Pacific Islands, but the leaves are more coriaceous and obtuse, the petals shorter, 
and the <w:oUa-lobes more obtuse." 
