coprosma

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of plants of the family Rubiaceæ. They are shrubs or small trees with opposite or whorled, entire leaves, and white or greenish, mostly inconspicuous flowers, either axillary or terminal and borne singly or in small cymes or heads, the fruit consisting of a 2- or 4-celled berry. There are about forty species, extending from New Zealand and Australia to Java, the Hawaiian Islands, and Juan Fernandez. C. Baueri is sometimes cultivated in greenhouses for its small, coral-red, ornamental fruits. C. fœtidissima is the sterile wood, and C. lucida the karamu of coffee-bush, of New Zealand. See sterile wood, under sterile, and coffee-bush.