Description
The name Coprosma means "smelling like dung" and refers to the smell (methanethiol) given out by the crushed leaves of a few species.
Many species are shrubs or subshrubs with tiny evergreen leaves, while some are small trees, and some have much larger leaves. The flowers have insignificant petals and are wind-pollinated, with long anthers and stigmas. Most species are dioecious, but some species (particularly ones native to New Zealand) can sometimes have individuals with perfect flowers. Natural hybrids are common. The fruits are non-poisonous juicy berries variously coloured bright orange, red, blue, white, or colourless, most often containing two small seeds. They are good food for birds and those of the larger species were historically eaten by Māori children. A notable feature of the genus is the domatia, hollows on the leaf undersides in the axils of leaf veins, that encourage certain kinds of mites to take up residence, which feed on and reduce parasitic fungi which attack the leaf. Although some early research attributed to the domatia and stipules the ability to harbour nitrogen-fixing bacteria, more rigorous tests found this not to be the case.
Coprosma are in the Rubiaceae (coffee) family and a coffee-like beverage can be brewed from the seeds, although it does not contain any methylxanthines such as caffeine or theophylline.
