''Coprosma acutifolia'', is a shrub that is native to
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country ...
, found only on
Raoul Island
Raoul Island (''Sunday Island'') is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity ...
. ''C. acutifolia'' can grow up to 12 metres tall in wet or dry forest, becoming a sub-canopy tree at lower altitudes and a canopy species along ridgelines.
Tree up to c. 10 m. tall; branches ascending; branchlets slender, glab. Lvs on slender petioles 5–7 mm. long. Stipules membr., sheathing, sub-acute; denticle prominent. Lamina membr., glab., ovate to ovate-elliptic to lanceolate, acuminate, tapering to petiole; ± 60-(75) × 20- (35) mm.; margins ± waved. Reticulated veins fine, evident. ♂ 3–9 on slender axillary branched peduncles 10–15 mm. long; calyx cupular, teeth 4–5, acute; corolla subfunnelform, lobes 5, acute, ± = tube; stamens us. 5. ♀ 3 in a cluster on branched axillary peduncles; calyx cupular, teeth triangular, us. 5; corolla tubular, lobes linear-triangular, < tube. Drupe orange-red, oblong, 7–8 mm. long.
Etymology
The genus name, ''Coprosma'' derives from the Greek ''kopros'' ("dung") and ''osme'' ("smell"), and describes the genus' foul smell, while the specific epithet, ''acutifolia'', derives from Latin, and means "sharp-leaved".
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References
acutifolia
Flora of New Zealand
Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker
Plants described in 1857
{{Rubioideae-stub