COPROSMA BAUERIANA, Endlicher. 
THE NAUPATA., 
OrDER—RUBIACEA. 
(Plate LXII.) 
CoprosMA BAveERIANA is a handsome evergreen shrub or small tree exclusively 
restricted to maritime situations, where it is able to resist the force of the fiercest 
gales: it develops its beautiful foliage in situations where it is often washed 
by the spray. Mr. Colenso informs me that it is the naupata of the northern 
Natives. I have heard it termed ‘‘ taupata’’ by Maoris living at Rotorua and 
in the Wellington District; and the Ven. Archdeacon W. L. Williams states 
that it is the ‘‘mamangi’”’ of the East Cape Natives: it does not appear to have 
received any distinctive appellation from the settlers. 
In exposed rocky places it is a prostrate shrub or small bush, but usually 
it attains the height of from 12ft. to 25ft., with a short trunk from 6in. to 18in. 
in diameter, clothed with a pale bark in the young state, ultimately becoming 
black. ‘The branches are spreading, often horizontal, with stout branchlets, which 
are more or less angular. The leaves are opposite, and carried on well-developed 
leaf-stalks, which are connected at the base by a pair of short, broad, triangular 
stipules: the leaves are coriaceous and glossy, shortly oblong, broadest in the 
upper part, gradually narrowed into the leaf-stalk, and rounded at the apex, 
which is often slightly notched: the margins are quite entire, but slightly 
recurved. 
The male and female flowers are produced on different plants, and form 
dense heads or clusters on common flower-stalks springing from the axils of the 
leaves, In the male flower the calyx is minute, with four inconspicuous teeth ; 
the corolla is funnel-shaped, with the mouth divided into five lobes; the stamens 
are five, on slender drooping filaments. In the female flower the calyx is 
minutely four-toothed or rarely three-toothed, forming a small crown on the 
rim of the ovary, surmounted by the minute corolla, with two erect or divergent 
stigmas. The ovary is two-celled. Fruit, a two-seeded berry, at first much 
flattened, but ultimately more or less oblong ; orange-coloured. 
The flowers are developed from August to October, and are produced in 
great profusion. 
Owing to its bright attractive foliage and the ease with which it can be 
cultivated, this species is often met with in gardens and shrubberies, varieties 
with “gold” or ‘silver’? variegation being much valued for their ornamental 
effect. Formerly it was frequently planted by the Maoris, and fine specimens 
are often met with in their old cultivations. A noble specimen well known to 
tourists in the Rotorua district is situate at the Pa Mourea, on the isthmus 
between Rotoiti and Rotorua, and is said to have been planted by the chief 
Hautupatu, who also planted the pohutukawa on the Island of Mokoia. 
This species is one of the few indigenous trees which form the subjects of 
Maon legends. It is said to have originated from the paddles and skids of the 
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