Coprosma perpusilla
Creeping Coprosma
Creeping Coprosma
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Asterids > Lamiids > Gentianales > Rubiaceae > Coprosma perpusilla
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Common name: Creeping Coprosma
Conservation status: ...
Etymology:
The specific epithet comes from the Latin per (very) and pusillus (very small), referring to the growth habit
Flowers:
The sessile flowers occur in summer on erect branchlets
They range in colour from greenish white to orange-yellow with red flecks
Fruit:
The fruit is an ovoid drupe 4–6 mm long and yellow-orange to orange-red in colour
Leaves:
The small lanceolate to ovate leaves are 4.5–7 mm long and 2–3.5 mm wide, crowded on short shoots
Stem & branches:
Mat-forming stems 300–400 mm long
Glabrous
Roots:
Rooting at the nodes of stems
Habit:
A prostrate subshrub
Habitat:
It grows in various habitats in alpine and subalpine regions
Distribution:
It is found in Australia, New Zealand and on some subantarctic islands
It is native to the states of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, and to the subantarctic islands of Macquarie, Campbell, the Aucklands and the Antipodes
On Macquarie Island it has been adversely affected by rabbit grazing
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
When the Coprosma pumila complex was revised by Orchard in 1986
He resurrected C. perpusilla Colenso from synonymy with C. pumila, recognising two subspecies
the nominate for the plants of New Zealand and Australia
with C. perpusilla ssp. subantarctica erected for the plants on the subantarctic islands
Sources of information: