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Coprosma hirtella

species of plant

Specimen drawers, botanical folios and brass scientific instruments under study light
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 14, 2025
Entity authorityQ15432223 ↗
Source-derived summary

Coprosma hirtella, or coffee-berry, is a shrub in the family Rubiaceae. It is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It grows to about 2 metres high and has leaves that are between 15 and 50 mm long and 10 to 25 mm wide. Plants have male and female flower clusters that appear between August and April.

These are followed by orange to reddish fruits that are 7 to 8 mm in diameter.

The species was formally described by French botanist Jacques Labillardière in 1805, based on plant specimens collected in Tasmania. It is a common plant of moist montane forests in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records "Fruit sweet, eatable, not agreeable.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Coprosma hirtella” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1805, 1889—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Coprosma, hirtella and species can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 14, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q15432223. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1805 and 1889.

Critical limits

A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

Best used for
  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Coprosma hirtella”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Coprosma hirtella primary sources, Coprosma hirtella archive and Coprosma research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Coprosma hirtella”?
  2. Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Coprosma hirtella” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.