About Coprosma perpusilla Colenso
Coprosma perpusilla Colenso, commonly known as creeping coprosma, is a prostrate subshrub. It forms low mats from glabrous stems 300 to 400 millimeters long, which root at the nodes. Its small leaves, which are lanceolate to ovate in shape, measure 4.5 to 7 millimeters long and 2 to 3.5 millimeters wide, and are crowded along short shoots. Sessile flowers appear in summer on erect branchlets, and their colour ranges from greenish white to orange-yellow with red flecks. The plant produces an ovoid drupe fruit that is 4 to 6 millimeters long, with colour ranging from yellow-orange to orange-red. This species is native to New Zealand, the Australian states of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, and the subantarctic islands of Macquarie, Campbell, Auckland, and Antipodes. It grows in a variety of alpine and subalpine habitats. On Macquarie Island, populations of Coprosma perpusilla have been negatively impacted by rabbit grazing.
