Coprosma ernodeoides, known as black-fruited coprosma in English and Hawaiian: kūkaenēnē or Hawaiian: ʻaiakanēnē in Hawaiian, is a sprawling shrub occurring only on the islands of Maui and Hawai‘i.[1]
Coprosma ernodeoides is a prostrate shrub with narrow, shiny, tightly packed, dark-green, opposite leaves.[2] The flowers are small, and the most obviously visible features are the 8-20 mm pale style branches. The distinctive shiny black fruit are 8-13 mm in diameter. This is the only species of Coprosma on the Hawaiian islands with black fruit.
This plant is restricted to the alpine areas of Maui and Hawai‘i.
Coprosma ernodeoides inhabits a variety of open alpine sites, from lava and cinder fields to forest and shrublands.
The fruit are eaten by the Hawaiian: [[Nene_(bird)|nēnē]].
Native Hawaiians used the fruit to make lei, the inner bark to make a yellow dye, and the fruit to make purple to black dye.[3]
The Hawaiian name Hawaiian: kūkaenēnē means "nēnē dung" due to the resemblance of the fruit to the feces of the Hawaiian: [[Nene_(bird)|nēnē]], coincident with the etymology of the name of the genus Coprosma which means "smelling like dung". The Hawaiian name Hawaiian: ʻaiakanēnē means "food of the nēnē".
This species was described by Asa Gray in 1860 based on specimens collected by Archibald Menzies.[4] [5]