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Kōrero: Shrubs and small trees of the forest

Stinkwood

Image
Stinkwood

An unpleasant sulfurous smell develops when some coprosma leaves are crushed. The genus was named for its smell – copros is Greek for dung, and the common name is stinkwood.

Stinkwood (Coprosma foetidissima) grows in high-altitude forests and subalpine scrub throughout New Zealand and extends south to the Auckland Islands.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Private collection

by Olaf John

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Joanna Orwin, Shrubs and small trees of the forest – Coprosmas, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/13835/stinkwood (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Joanna Orwin, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009, updated 1 July 2015.