Erect, evergreen shrub or small tree up to 9 m tall, terminating in ± open spreadin g crowns of leafy loosely divaricating branches (Fig. 1). Main stem solitary, sometimes two or more, erect or leaning, straight-grained or twisted, 2–10 cm diam., with regular coppice and epicormic shoots. Outer bark brown or grey-brown, smooth or finely fissured, lenticellate, persistent or shedding in small thin flakes; inner bark when exposed light to dark orange. Coppice, epicormic, and juvenile shoots slender with long internodes, at first terete, purple-flushed, and uniformly covered with dense, short, erect to suberect eglandular hairs, later brown or grey-brown, finely fissured and lenticellate; branches divaricating on juveniles and in exposed crowns with branch angles of 40–90° (Fig. 2A), less divaricate with branches ± flattened and spreading in one plane on shaded plants. Cotyledons 2, 7–9 × 2.5–3 mm, oblong to narrowly obovate, slightly retuse, glabrous, at first green later reddish, midvein prominent beneath; bases connected by two small, triangular, glabrous or slightly ciliate stipules, each with a minute, dark, central denticle. Seedling leaves in opposite pairs, at first 5–6 × 3 .5 mm, shortly petiolate, obovate, spreading, green or reddish above, paler beneath, apex rounded with sparse minute hairs, veins distinct, later become smaller and narrower with characteristic arrested shoots and leaves in axillary position (Fig. 2F). Adult leaves in opposite pairs, often clustered distally on short shoots with internodes 2–3 mm long (Fig. 2A), 5–10(–12) × 3–5(–7) mm, shortly petiolate, flat or slightly concave, spreading, obovate to narrowly obovate, apex rounded with minute inturned hairs, more rarely retuse with a minute apiculus, base cuneate or attenuate; lamina in exposed crowns somewhat thickened, dull yellow-green and cream-flecked with darker veins above, pale green with a distinct darker midvein beneath, margins thickened, reddish, often finely revolute; lamina on shaded plants thinner textured, dull green, up to 20 × 8 mm; lamina on coppice and epicormic shoots much smaller and thicker; domatia 0–2(–3), up to 8 mm at widest point, margins and interior of cavity ciliate, forming deep, prominent dorsal swellings; petiole 1– 2 mm long with short antrorse hairs, basal abscission zone present. Interpetiolar stipules below apex of short shoots broadly triangular, pubescent, with a dark central denticle partly obscured by cilia, sheath pubescent, marginal fringe thin, greenish, finely ciliate (Fig. 2E). Plants unisexual; flowers axillary, solitary or paired, pedicellate, ± pendulous, campanulate; pedicels and calyces long-persistent (Fig. 2A–C). Male flowers larger and more numerous than female flowers; pedicels or arrested branchlets 2.5– 3 mm long, glabrous, purple-streaked, each with a basal tubular connate bract 1.0 mm long; bract truncate or irregularly lobed, purple and minutely hairy, representing depauperated leaves and stipules; calyx absent, in its place a much reduced purplish stipular ring, often with two opposite arrested leaves; corolla tube 2.5–3 mm long, oblong and laterally compressed, green suffused with purple; corolla lobes 3–5, opening to c. halfway, ovate-acute, 2 .5 × 1 .5 mm at widest point, recurved, minutely papillose at apex and on the inside; filaments 2.5–3 mm long at anthesis, basifixed, green, glabrous or papillose; anthers (3–)4(–5), 2–2.5 × 0.8–1.0 mm, oblong to crescent shaped, dorsifixed, 2-locular, papillose at apex (Fig. 2C). Female flowers with pedicels similar to male flowers; calyx 4–5-lobed, adnate to ovary; corolla tube 2 mm long, obovoid and slightly compressed laterally, green suffused with purple; corolla lobes 3–5, opening to c. halfway, ovate-acute, 1.5 × 1.0 mm at widest point, recurved, minutely papillose at apex and on the inside; ovary ovoid, green, 2-locular; stigmas 2–3, up to 5 mm long when fully exerted, terete, papillose and purple-flecked (Fig. 2C). Fruit a globose drupe slightly flattened at distal pole and sometimes compressed laterally, 4–5 × 3.5–5 mm, white, violet, or dark purple to black depending on degree of maturity and exposure, mesocarp white suffused with violet (Fig. 2D). Pyrenes (1–)2(–3), often unequal, if two then the larger 3–4 × 2–3 mm, ovate, plano-convex, roughened on the inner face, operculum distinct; if three then each pyrene ± trigonous in cross-section and usually empty. FLOWERING: (Aug-)Sep-Oct(-Nov). Flowering appears to be annual and the flowers are presumably wind-pollinated. The flowers are strictly unisexual and the sexes are borne on separate plants. At the type locality (Coopers Creek) the ratio of male to female plants scored was 9:7 (Table 1). Of the four plants known at Carter's Bush, Wairarapa, two are male and two are female, whereas at the largest known North Island population in the Wainuioru Valley, Wairarapa, female plants are more common than male plants. In general, plants on forest margins or in sunlit openings flower more readily and profusely than those in closed forest. Flowering extends over several weeks on a given plant, and the time of flowering varies from one locality to another. Male plants begin to flower each year before female plants, but there is a significant overlap. FRUITING: (Feb-)Mar-Sep(-Oct). Fruit ripens over a long period following flowering, but usually within the first 12-14 months. At the beginning of each reproductive cycle, female plants may bear emerging flowers, residual ripe drupes, small green non-fertilised or aborted fruit, and persistent pedicels and calyces from previous cycles (Fig. 2B). The fruit is probably dispersed by birds (Oliver 1935; see also Lee et al. 1988), and possibly also by lizards (Whitaker 1987), although much is shed within the canopy spread of female plants, where most of the seedlings are found. Seeds germinate in the first and second spring following flowering. Out of 100 drupes collected from the type locality on 26 April 1995 and sown intact in the open at Landcare Research, Lincoln, 54 seedlings emerged the following spring, with a second flush of 30 seedlings 12 months later. No further germination occurred. It should be noted that a mature drupe of C. pedicellata normally has two pyrenes, one much larger than the other and presumably viable, as a comparative random cutting test suggests.

Frutex erectus vel arbor parva C. parviflora Hook.f. similis (pro parte majore) sed differt caule primario orthotropico, surculis ramulisque virgatis, cortice interiore aurantiaco, foliis glabris, fructo pedenti pedicellato, et chromosomatum numero 2n = 44.