Coprosma ernodeoides
{{Short description|Species of plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Coprosma ernodeides.jpg
| genus = Coprosma
| species = ernodeoides
| authority = Gray
}}
Coprosma ernodeoides, known as black-fruited coprosma in English and {{lang|haw|kūkaenēnē}} or {{lang|haw|ʻaiakanēnē}} in Hawaiian, is a sprawling shrub occurring only on the islands of Maui and Hawai‘i.
Description
Coprosma ernodeoides is a prostrate shrub with narrow, shiny, tightly packed, dark-green, opposite leaves.{{cite web |title=Coprosma ernodeoides |url=https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/botany/hawaiianflora/speciesdescr.cfm?genus=Coprosma&species=ernodeoides |website=Flora of the Hawaiian Islands |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=12 December 2021}} The flowers are small, and the most obviously visible features are the 8–20 mm pale style branches. The distinctive shiny black fruit are 8–13 mm in diameter. This is the only species of Coprosma on the Hawaiian islands with black fruit.{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=Daniela Dutra |last2=Tamashiro |first2=Shari Y. |title=Native Plants Hawaii - Viewing Plant : Coprosma ernodeoides |url=http://www.nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Coprosma_ernodeoides |access-date=12 December 2021 |website=www.nativeplants.hawaii.edu |publisher=University of Hawaii}}
Taxonomy
This species was described by Asa Gray in 1860 based on specimens collected by Archibald Menzies.{{cite journal |last1=Gray |first1=Asa |date=1860 |title=Notes upon some Rubiaceae, collected in the United States South-Sea Exploring Expedition under Captain Wilkes, with Characters of New Species, &c. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3064782 |journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |volume=IV |page=49}}{{cite web |title=Index of Botanical Specimens |url=https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/specimen_search.php?mode=details&id=167271 |access-date=12 December 2021 |website=Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries |publisher=The President and Fellows of Harvard College |language=en}}
Distribution and habitat
Ecology
The fruit are eaten by the {{lang|haw|nēnē}}.
Uses
Native Hawaiians used the fruit to make lei, the inner bark to make a yellow dye, and the fruit to make purple to black dye.{{cite web |title=Bishop Museum - Ethnobotany Database |url=http://data.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/ethnobotany.php?b=d&ID=kukaenene |website=Hawaiian Ethnobotany Online Database |publisher=Bishop Museum |access-date=12 December 2021}}
Etymology
The Hawaiian name {{lang|haw|kūkaenēnē}} means "nēnē dung" due to the resemblance of the fruit to the feces of the {{lang|haw|nēnē}}, coincident with the etymology of the name of the genus Coprosma which means "smelling like dung". The Hawaiian name {{lang|haw|ʻaiakanēnē}} means "food of the nēnē".
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2996868}}
Category:Taxa named by Asa Gray
Category:Plants described in 1860
Category:Endemic flora of Hawaii
{{Rubiaceae-stub}}