Coprosma acutifolia, is a shrub that is native to New Zealand, found only on Raoul Island. C. acutifolia can grow up to 12 metres tall in wet or dry forest, becoming a sub-canopy tree at lower altitudes and a canopy species along ridgelines.
Tree up to c. 10 m. tall; branches ascending; branchlets slender, glab. Lvs on slender petioles 5âÂÂ7 mm. long. Stipules membr., sheathing, sub-acute; denticle prominent. Lamina membr., glab., ovate to ovate-elliptic to lanceolate, acuminate, tapering to petiole; ñ 60-(75) à20- (35) mm.; margins ñ waved. Reticulated veins fine, evident. â 3âÂÂ9 on slender axillary branched peduncles 10âÂÂ15 mm. long; calyx cupular, teeth 4âÂÂ5, acute; corolla subfunnelform, lobes 5, acute, ñ = tube; stamens us. 5. â 3 in a cluster on branched axillary peduncles; calyx cupular, teeth triangular, us. 5; corolla tubular, lobes linear-triangular, < tube. Drupe orange-red, oblong, 7âÂÂ8 mm. long.
The genus name, Coprosma derives from the Greek kopros ("dung") and osme ("smell"), and describes the genus' foul smell, while the specific epithet, acutifolia, derives from Latin, and means "sharp-leaved".