Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: Upper Kauaeranga Valley. Type: A, Townson.

Lvs narrowly obovate-oblong, ± 100-120 × 15-25 mm., gradually narrowed to petiole, apex acute to subacute.

DIST.: N., Little Barrier Id, Cape Colville Peninsula, Mount Egmont.

A distinctly polymorphic sp., the status of the components needing further study. Var. angustifolia occurs in reasonably uniform populations.

Colenso (T.N.Z.I. 31, 1899, 270) described his C. lanceolata from specimens collected in "Thickets, slopes of Ruahine Mountain-range, east side; 1898: Mr. H. Hill." The description includes: "Leaves . . . lanceolate, 51/2 in. long (including petiole), 11/4 in.-11/2 in. wide; tip very acute, produced . . . Drupae broadly elliptic, 4 lines long, smooth, shining, with hollow crown." The specimens appear to be lost; but plants of uncertain status, with lanceolate lvs, are occ. met with.

Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 231) described his var. obovata as "Erect, branches slender strict. Leaves 11/2 in. -3 in. long, obovate or oblong-obovate, obtuse, subcoriaceous, not shining. Peduncles shorter, with fewer flowers . . . Great Barrier Island and Cape Colville ranges." Kirk's label to presumably the type specimen in W, reads: "98 Coprosma allied to C. lucida, flowers not seen. A dwarf compact shrub 2-3 ft. high. Great Barrier Island, T. Kirk, December 1867." The lvs are elliptic-obovate to obovate, slightly undulate, midrib mucronately produced; 4-9 × 2-3·5 cm. It compares very well with C. dodonaeifolia.

Oliver (loc. cit. 124-125) discusses the polymorphy of the sp. in general: "There is a good deal of variation in the general shape of the leaf in this species. Commonly it is oblong-obovate with the apical end rather abruptly narrowed, the tip produced, and the base more gradually narrowed. Sometimes, however, the apex is rounded or truncate with the tip produced, or it is acute or acuminate. On the same plant a great variety of forms is found. The extreme forms can be correlated with habitat.

"In exposed situations as in open scrub on the hills and in the barren pumice country . . . C. lucida is reduced to a compact shrub, and the leaves are much smaller than in the prevalent form. . . . Kirk described it as a variety, obovata. Contrasting with the dry habitats of the form just described are situations in deep forests where there is a maximum of shade and moisture. Here C. lucida takes a slender form with lax foliage. In these situations the leaves are long and narrow. . . . The narrow-leaved form was described by Cheeseman as variety angustifolia. In coastal plant associations the leaves of C. lucida are especially thick."