Coprosma petriei Cheeseman

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Coprosma petriei' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/coprosma/coprosma-petriei/). Accessed 2026-03-07.

Family

  • Rubiaceae

Genus

Glossary

clone
Organism arising via vegetative or asexual reproduction.
variety
(var.) Taxonomic rank (varietas) grouping variants of a species with relatively minor differentiation in a few characters but occurring as recognisable populations. Often loosely used for rare minor variants more usefully ranked as forms.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Coprosma petriei' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/coprosma/coprosma-petriei/). Accessed 2026-03-07.

A dwarf plant with prostrate stems forming broad patches 2 to 3 in. high. The leaves are dark green, densely crowded, narrow oblong or obovate, 18 to 14 in. long, more or less hairy. Fruit ranging in colour from port-wine (var. atropurpurea Ckn. & Allan) to various shades of blue, only borne in the presence of a male plant.

A native of New Zealand, found in both islands to about 4,000 ft.

C. atropurpurea was formerly considered a variety of this species, but even then it was noted that the two formed distinct populations, and did not cross in the wild – striking, in view of the readiness with which the coprosmas hybridise (Fl. New Zealand, Vol. 1, p. 566).

[From the Supplement (Vol. V)]

Male and female plants (the latter with pearly white fruits) are available from an introduction by Graham Hutchins from Lake Lyndon in the South Island in 1977. There is also a female clone with pale blue fruits introduced in 1981 by the same collector.


C pseudocuneata W. R. B. Oliver

A shrub of variable habit, 10 ft tall in the forests but low and compact on open mountain-sides. Leaves thick and leathery, dark green, oblong or narrow-obovate, about {3/4} in. long and up to {1/4} in. wide. Fruits translucent, orange-red. Native of New Zealand, common near the tree-line in the mountains of South Island. According to Dr Philipson, this is ‘one of the very finest of the sub-alpine shrubs of New Zealand’, but he adds the warning: ‘Quite apart from the need for unproductive male plants, the great majority of female plants are very loath to bear fruit…. However, the plant is so good at its best that it is worth taking trouble to obtain a good one’ (Rock Garden Plants, p. 103).