The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Coprosma petiolata

Etymology

Coprosma: from the Greek kopros 'dung' and osme 'smell', referring to the foul smell of the species, literally 'dung smell'
petiolata: having leaf-stalks

Common Name(s)

taupata

Current Conservation Status

2012 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon
2004 - Range Restricted

Qualifiers

2012 - CD, IE
2009 - IE

Authority

Coprosma petiolata Hook.f.

Family

Rubiaceae

Brief Description

Shrub or small tree bearing pairs of green very glossy leaves inhabiting the Kermadec Islands. Twigs and stems of leaves slightly fuzzy. Leaves 10-70mm long, leathery, widest towards the blunt tip. Small triangular dark-tipped flap on stem between leaf pairs.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

COPPTL

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

None (first described in 1856)

Distribution

Endemic. Kermadec Islands, Raoul Island and most of the adjacent Herald Islets.

Habitat

Coastal. On rock stacks, islets, coastal cliffs and associated talus slopes and boulder field, a common and sometimes dominant component of coastal scrub and an understorey shrub in the more exposed dry forests of the island. Also locally common on the exposed slopes of the Raoul Island crater walls.

Features

Prostrate, spreading or erect shrub or widely spreading tree up to 6 m tall but usually much less; branches with rough dark to light grey bark; branchlets slender, pubescent. Leaves on slender pubescent petioles 5-16 mm long. Stipules short, triangular, pubescent, acute. Lamina coriaceous, light yellow-green in exposed situations with a distinct waxy bloom, or green in shaded sites, glossy, 10-70 × 15-30 mm (70-80 × 45-50 mm in shade plants or juveniles), elliptic-oblong to obovate, obtuse, cuneately narrowed to base; margins recurved in exposed situations otherwise flat, reticulated veins evident below. Male flowers clustered on slender peduncles 5-10 mm long; calyx 0; corolla funnelform, lobes oblong-triangular, acute, more or less = tube. Female usually 3 together on slender pubescent peduncles; calyx-teeth very short; corolla-tube broadly tubular, long, lobes subacute, < tube. Drupe 6-10 × 6-10 mm orange-red, ovoid or subdidymous.

Similar Taxa

Of the New Zealand species it is most similar to Coprosma repens which is purportedly present on the Kermadec Islands (based on several old and somewhat dubious collections which may or may not be it). Coprosma repens differs mostly by its much larger (60-80 × 40-50 mm cf. 10-70 × 15-30 mm in C. petiolata), thicker, more coriaceous , glossy dark green leaves but the distinction is not always exact, though C. petiolata plants never have the thick, coriaceous, dark green, glossy leaves typical of C. repens. Coprosma petiolata is actually more similar to the now scarce Norfolk Island endemic C. baueri from which it mostly differs by its larger overall stature and by its obtuse rather than retuse-emarginate leaf tip. Critical study using modern molecular techniques would be useful in this obviously closely related group of species.

Flowering

September - April

Fruiting

December - May

Propagation Technique

Easy from fresh seed or semi-hardwood cuttings. Frost-tender. An attractive hardy shrub for a coastal situation. Not widely cultivated in New Zealand.

Threats

An abundant endemic that is listed only because it is an island endemic. On Raoul it occasionally hybridises with Coprosma acutifolia.

Chromosome No.

2n = 44

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Fleshy drupes are dispersed by frugivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 15 Aug 2014