Karamu

Coprosma robusta, known in te reo Maori as karamu, is a fast-growing evergreen shrub or small tree endemic to New Zealand, reaching 3-6 metres in height. It has stout, spreading branches with smooth, glossy, dark-green obovate to elliptic leaves 5-12 cm long, arranged in opposite pairs and with prominent, sheathing stipules at the nodes. Tiny greenish to yellow-green flowers are borne in dense clusters at the leaf axils in late winter and spring; the species is dioecious, so male and female blossoms appear on separate plants. Female plants produce abundant glossy, ovoid orange-red drupes 6-9 mm long in autumn, an important food for native birds. Karamu is a common pioneer in regenerating lowland and montane forest throughout the North and South Islands of New Zealand.