A dwarf plant with prostrate stems forming broad patches 2 to 3 in. high. The leaves are dark green, densely crowded, narrow oblong or obovate, 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in. long, more or less hairy. Fruit ranging in colour from port-wine (var. atropurpurea Ckn. & Allan) to various shades of blue, only borne in the presence of a male plant. A native of New Zealand, found in both islands to about 4,000 ft.
C. pseudocuneata W. R. B. Oliver. – A shrub of variable habit, 10 ft tall in the forests but low and compact on open mountain-sides. Leaves thick and leathery, dark green, oblong or narrow-obovate, about 3⁄4 in. long and up to 1⁄4 in. wide. Fruits translucent, orange-red. Native of New Zealand, common near the tree-line in the mountains of South Island. According to Dr Philipson, this is ‘one of the very finest of the sub-alpine shrubs of New Zealand’, but he adds the warning: ‘Quite apart from the need for unproductive male plants, the great majority of female plants are very loath to bear fruit… . However, the plant is so good at its best that it is worth taking trouble to obtain a good one’ (Rock Garden Plants, p. 103).