Coprosma foetidissima
| Coprosma foetidissima | |
|---|---|
| |
| The leaves of Coprosma foetidissima | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Rubiaceae |
| Genus: | Coprosma |
| Species: | C. foetidissima
|
| Binomial name | |
| Coprosma foetidissima | |
Coprosma foetidissima, commonly known as stinkwood or hūpiro (Māori), is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae, native to mainland New Zealand as well as Stewart Island and the Auckland Islands. It grows as a shrub or small tree, and is found in coastal to sub-alpine forest and shrubland. Its distinctive characteristic is the unpleasant, rotten cabbage smell produced when its leaves are crushed.
Taxonymy and etymology
[edit]Coprosma foetidissima J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. is in the family Rubiaceae, and was described in 1776 by Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster.[2] The species is named stinkwood and foetidissima because of the foul smell produced when the leaves are crushed.[3] During the second voyage of James Cook, Johann Forster reported that the plant gave off a smell like rotten cabbage.[4] The smell is caused by the sulphur compound methanethiol (or methyl mercaptan).[5][6] The name for the genus Coprosma is derived from this species.[4] In Greek, copros means 'dung', and osma means 'smell'. However, despite this species being the basis of the name for the entire genus, most of the other species in the genus do not smell in this way.[4] The specific epithet foetidissima is derived from Latin, where "foetidus" means "stinking" or "bad-smelling". The name of the species in the Māori language is hūpiro.[7]
In his report on a botanical survey of the Auckland Islands as part of the Antarctic voyages of HMS Erebus from 1839-1843, Joseph Dalton Hooker recalled collecting a specimen of C. foetidissima:[8]
The whole plant, especially when bruised or when drying, exhales an exceedingly fetid odour, much resembling that of the flowers of Hibbertia volubilis. I brought on board the Erebus specimens of this with the other plants late one evening, and finding that there were more tender species, which took a considerable time to lay in paper than I could well get through that night, I locked this Coprosma in a small close cabin until I should have leisure to press it, but before half an hour had elapsed the smell was intolerable, and had pervaded the whole of the lower deck.
The type specimen, recorded by Georg Forster in 1772, is held by in the vascular plants collection of the University of Göettingen.[9]
Description
[edit]C. foetidissima grows as a small open branched tree or shrub,[10] typically up to 3 m (9.8 ft) tall, but in the Auckland Islands can reach a height of 6 m (20 ft), with a trunk up to 45 cm (18 in) in diameter.[4][8] The bark is dark brown, and the branchlets are without hairs (glabrous). Stipules are shorter than typical for coprosma species, and taper to a mostly conspicuous long tooth-like growth, covered in fine short hairs, with tufts of unequal hairs at the tips. Leaves are thin, 30-50 mm long, 14-20 mm wide, somewhat leathery textured, shaped obovate to oblong to broadly ovate. Leaf tip may vary from rounded to having a small tapered point.[11] The leaves lie in a single plane on the branchlet.[4] The leaves of C. foetidissima have domatia, small indentations on the underside that may be occupied by potentially beneficial insects such as mites and other arthropods.[12]
C. foetidissima is dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers are borne on separate plants.[13] Flowering occurs between October and November.[11] The flowers are solitary and occur on the ends of branchlets.[10] Male flowers; calyx cup-like, 4 or 5-toothed; corolla bell-shaped, 4 or 8 lobed to the middle; anthers are large, elongated oblong in form, and as long as the corolla. Female flowers; the calyx-tube is short and narrowly ovoid, tubular, and toothed; corolla is a curved tube with 4 or 5 splits extending one third to half way down, styles are substantial and long.[14] Fruiting occurs between March and July. The drupes are 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) in length with an oblong shape.[11] They are yellow to orange-red in colour,[4] and are dispersed by frugivory.[11]
Distribution
[edit]C. foetidissima is endemic to New Zealand,[11] and found southwards from the Coromandel Peninsula to Stewart Island, and on the Auckland Islands.[4][10][15] It grows in coastal to sub-alpine forest and shrubland.[13][11]
Ecology
[edit]A wide range of endemic insects feed on C. foetidissima, including three species of gall mites in the family Eriophyidae, five species of caterpillars of moths or butterflies in the families Gracillariidae, Tortricidae and Geometridae, eight species of scale insects and sucking bugs in the families Aleyrodidae, Eriococcidae, Diaspididae and Miridae, and larvae of one species of gall fly in the family Cecidomyiidae. Seven species of weevil in the family Curculionidae live in dead wood. The Wellington tree wētā Hemideina crassidens, has also been observed feeding on leaves.[16]
Conservation status
[edit]C. foetidissima was listed as Not Threatened in the 2023 New Zealand Threat Classification Series for vascular plants.[1]
Gallery
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Peter J. de Lange; Jane Gosden; Shannel P. Courtney; et al. (October 2024). "Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023" (PDF). New Zealand Threat Classification Series. 43: 78. ISSN 2324-1713. Wikidata Q130392985.
- ^ Johann Reinhold Forster; Georg Forster (1 March 1776), Characteres generum plantarum: uas in itinere ad insulas maris australis, collegerunt,descripserunt, delinearunt, annis mdcclxxii-mdcclxxv (in Latin) (2nd ed.), London, p. 138, doi:10.5962/BHL.TITLE.4448, Wikidata Q67939286BHL page 3590640
- ^ Perry, Nigel (2 March 2009). "Story: Plant extracts - Stinkwood". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 21 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g Dawson & Lucas 2019, p. 206.
- ^ "The Curious Case of the Coprosma" (PDF). Valley Voice: 8. August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
- ^ "Coprosma". www.blockhill.co.nz. Archived from the original on 17 April 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
- ^ "hūpiro". Te Aka Māori Dictionary. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
- ^ a b Joseph Dalton Hooker (1844), The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843 under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, Illustrator: Walter Hood Fitch, p. 20, doi:10.5962/BHL.TITLE.16029, OCLC 38878765, Wikidata Q6435950BHL page 3011358
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Occurrence 1772: Coprosma foetidissima J.R.Forst. & G.Forst". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
- ^ a b c Salmon 1996, p. 304.
- ^ a b c d e f "Coprosma foetidissima". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Archived from the original on 30 January 2025. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
- ^ Dean M O'Connell (February 2009), Plant-arthropod interactions: Domatia and mites in the genus Coprosma (Rubiaceae), University of Otago, doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.4345.4881, Wikidata Q135595005
- ^ a b "Coprosma (Hupiro) Coprosma foetidissima". Taranaki Educational Resource: Research, Analysis and Information Network. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
- ^ Hooker, J. D. (1867), Handbook of the New Zealand flora : a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, and Macquarrie's islands, pp. 116–117, doi:10.5962/BHL.TITLE.132966, Wikidata Q63468298BHL page 53745539 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Turbott, Graham. "Year Away: Wartime Coastwatching on the Auckland Islands, 1944: Science, Weather and War" (PDF). Department of Conservation. pp. 94–96. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
- ^ "Herbivores associated with a host plant: Plant species: Coprosma foetidissima J.R.Forst. & G.Forst". plant-synz.landcareresearch.co.nz. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
Sources cited
[edit]- Dawson, J.; Lucas, R. (2019). New Zealand's Native Trees. Nelson: Potton & Burton. ISBN 978-0-947503-98-7. Wikidata Q135564433.
- Salmon, J.T. (1996). The Native Trees of New Zealand. Auckland: Reed Books. ISBN 978-0-7900-0503-4. Wikidata Q135566328.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Coprosma foetidissima at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Coprosma foetidissima at Wikispecies