Coprosma astonii Petrie
Type locality: "Whisky Gully near Tapanui". Type: W, B. C. Aston, 1897.
Slender shrub up to 1-(2) m. tall; branches flexible, with dark to very dark brown bark; branchlets us. finely pubescent when young. Lvs us. in rather distant pairs or fascicles, petioles very slender, 1-2-(3) mm. long. Stipules oblong-triangular, subacute to obtuse, pubescent, ciliate, with apical tuft of long hairs. Lamina subcoriac., glab., linear to very narrow-cuneate, ± curved, truncate to obtuse, ± retuse, sts mucronulate, (6)-10-16 × (0·5)-2-(3) mm. Midrib evident below, us. impressed above. ♂ solitary or 2-4 together, terminal on short branchlets, calyx 0; corolla funnelform, tube ± = narrow acute lobes. ♀ solitary, terminal; calyx-teeth very short; corolla narrow-funnelform, lobes narrow, acute, ± = tube. Drupe clear red, globose, 4-5 mm. diam.
DIST.: S., St. Lowland to montane forest, shrubland from lat. 43º southwards.
