Coprosma pumila Hook.f.
C. repens Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 1, 1844, 22 non A. Rich. Essai fl. N.Z. 1832, 264.
Type: K, Gunn 304, 1837.
Stems prostrate, creeping and rooting, up to c. 6 dm. long, ± monoec.; branches with dark brown to greyish bark; branchlets slender, glab. Lvs often fascicled, on petioles 1-3 mm. long; stipules triangular, subacute, ciliolate. Lamina coriac. to subfleshy, glab., elliptic to obovate-elliptic, (3)-4-10 × (1)-4 mm., obtuse to subacute, narrowed into winged petiole; margins entire. Midrib alone evident below, impressed above. ♂ solitary, terminal; bracts stipulate, small, calyx-teeth acute; corolla-tube narrowly funnelform, lobes acute; stamens 4-3.♀ solitary, terminal; calyx-teeth acuminate; corolla tubular, lobes acute, style-branches (2)-3-4. Drupe globose, red, 6-10 mm. diam., pyrenes 2-4.
DIST.: N., S., St., A., C., Ant., M. Higher montane to subalpine grassland, herbfield throughout. Near sealevel in Subantarctic Is. Also in Australia, Tasmania. Type locality; Middlesex Plains, Tasmania.
Colenso (T.N.Z.I. 22, 1890, 466) based his C. perpusilla on specimens collected "On low banks of River Wangaehu, near east base of Mount Tongariro . . . 1889: Mr. H. Hill". His description includes: "Leaves very close, imbricated thickish, elliptic, 2 lines long, obtuse, glabrous, dark-coloured; upper surface minutely and closely papillose . . . stamens 3, 4 (sometimes 6)". The type specimens, in W, have lvs ± 3-4 × 2-3 mm. The complex has not been closely studied.
Oliver (loc. cit. 34-35) points out that "some abnormal flowers are among the specimens collected January 1890 by Kirk at Port Ross, Auckland Island. There are perfect flowers with 4 stamens, 4 style branches, and 4 corolla lobes, and there is one female flower with 4 style branches and 8 corolla lobes." He also notes that "a form with very small, narrow obovate leaves. averaging 4-5 mm. long and 1 mm. wide, and with correspondingly small flowers is found on Smith's lookout and Mount Anglem, Stewart Island, and Mount Tapuaenuku, altitude 5000 feet, and Mount Murchison in the South Island."
