Sambar Browse Plants - The Coprosmas

The coprosmas are a large group of flowering plants found particularly in New Zealand, but also in Hawaii, Borneo, Java, New Guinea, islands in the Southern Ocean and Australia. The name ‘coprosma’ comes from the Greek ‘smelling of dung’ – the leaves of several members of this group, although not Australia’s representatives, stink when crushed. Many species are small shrubs with tiny evergreen leaves, but a few are small trees and some have much larger leaves.

The numerous coprosma species in New Zealand are very widely distributed and form a major part of the diet of deer in that country. By contrast, only two species are common and widely distributed in Victorian sambar country, but like their Kiwi counterparts are a very important food source for the deer. These species are C. hirtella, commonly known as rough coprosma, and C. quadrifida, also known as prickly coprosma or prickly current bush. One New Zealand species, C. repens or mirror bush, has been widely planted in Australian gardens and has become a weed in coastal areas.

Rough coprosma grows in cool, shaded forests in Tasmania, Victoria and parts of New South Wales as a shrub up to about 1.5 metres tall. The plant has relatively large leaves about three to five centimetres long and two to three wide which are rough to the touch, hence its common name (presumably the ‘roughness’ in the foliage is meant to deter browsing by the likes of wallabies and now deer). Prickly coprosma also occurs in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales and again favours damp forests, but particularly creek and river flats and in ideal conditions can form thickets of tall shrubs up to three or four metres tall. This plant has quite small leaves five to ten millimetres long by two to four wide, and as the common name implies, like many other edible plants around the world, it grows prickles to discourage browsing.

Both rough and prickly coprosma have inconspicuous flowers that are followed by small fruits that ripen to orange or red over summer. These are eaten by birds which are presumably responsible for spreading their seeds around. If you are sambar hunting and have plenty of time and have nothing better to do, they provide an ‘interesting’ snack.

Okay, so now that we can identify these two plants, how are we going to use this knowledge? Sambar, across the great majority of their range and in most seasons are predominantly browsing animals; that is, they feed on shrubs and trees rather than on grasses. If you are hunting sambar, look for these species and when you find them check for evidence of browsing. Other animals besides sambar (particularly swamp wallabies and cattle) will eat coprosma so look for tracks and droppings to identify the likely culprit. If it appears that the twigs and leaves have been nipped of by deer but you are then unsure how recent the damage to the plant is, break or cut off a nearby twig for comparison – if both look similarly ‘fresh’ (the bark at the break still green rather than brown and the underlying woody stem white) there are likely to be deer nearby. Game on!