Coprosma ochracea is a dioecious shrub or small tree 2-6 m tall. In bogs, it adopts a prostrate or weakly spreading habit, sometimes rooting at the nodes for additional support. The plant is recognized for its many-branched structure, with lateral branches often aligning in a single plane, especially in shrub and bog forms. These branches typically bear a spreading or appressed hirsute texture, though variations include short-hirsute in specific locations like Moloka’i and Maui or even glabrous in others. The leaves are arranged oppositely and vary widely in shape and size, from broadly obovate to suborbicular or spatulate, and in more open branching forms, elliptic-oblanceolate or occasionally elliptic. Leaf sizes range significantly, from as small as 10 mm to as large as 155 mm long and from 6 mm to 46 mm in width. Leaf apices are broadly short-acuminate or acuminate, with some featuring a rounded or acute tip, while bases transition from attenuate to abruptly broadly cuneate. Surface textures also vary, with some leaves glabrous and others sparsely appressed short-hirsute along the midrib or scattered hirsute, especially along the veins, contributing to the coriaceous nature of the leaves. Margins remain entire across the variety, with petioles exhibiting a similar diversity in pubescence and ranging from 0.5 mm to 26 mm in length. The flowers are in clusters of 3–6 and are unisexual and dioecious, often heterostylous, inviting insect pollination. The calyx and corolla differ in shape and size between staminate and pistillate flowers, with a nectary disk usually present. Reproductive parts include stamens that alternate with corolla lobes and an inferior ovary that might occasionally be partly or rarely superior, featuring 2(-4) cells. The fruit of this species is a drupaceous, juicy, bright orange drupe, ovoid to subglobose or occasionally ellipsoid, measuring 7–10 mm in length, with a persistent calyx at its apex. It contains 2(-4) one-seeded, planoconvex pyrenes that possess a well-developed oily endosperm, though the endosperm may be scanty or absent in some cases. It thrives across a broad range of wet habitats, from wet forests to open bogs and occasionally mesic forests, and is found at elevations ranging from 790 to 2,290 meters.