Zieria compacta

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Zieria compacta
Zieria compacta (leaves, flowers and fruit).jpg
Z. compacta leaves, flowers and fruit
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Zieria
Species:
Z. compacta
Binomial name
Zieria compacta
Synonyms [1]
  • Zieria fraseri subsp. compacta (C.T.White) J.A.Armstr.

Zieria compacta is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and white flowers with four petals and four stamens. It usually grows in rocky places on steep hills.

Contents

Description

Zieria compacta is an erect, bushy shrub which grows to a height of about 2 m (7 ft). The branches are smooth and lack obvious glands but are covered with a dense layer of hairs, especially when young. Its leaves are composed of three elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets with the middle leaflet 6–35 mm (0.2–1 in) long and 1.5–8 mm (0.06–0.3 in) wide and the others smaller. The leaf stalk is 2–8 mm (0.079–0.31 in) long. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous and dark green while the lower surface is a paler green, covered with a thin, dense layer of hairs and has an obvious mid-vein. [2] [3]

The flowers are white to pale pink and are arranged in groups of mostly six flowers (but sometimes as few as one or as many as 35) in leaf axils. The groups are usually about as long as the leaves. The four sepal lobes are about 1.5–2.5 mm (0.06–0.1 in) long and hairy on the outside. The four petals are 2–2.5 mm (0.08–0.1 in) long and in common with other zierias, there are only four stamens. Flowering occurs in spring and is followed by fruit which is a glabrous follicle composed of up to four sections joined at the base and which burst open to release their seeds when ripe. [2] [3]

Z. compacta growing in the Bolivia Hill Nature Reserve near Tenterfield Zieria compacta (habit).jpg
Z. compacta growing in the Bolivia Hill Nature Reserve near Tenterfield

Taxonomy and naming

Zieria compacta was first formally described in 1942 by Cyril Tenison White in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland from a specimen collected near Stanthorpe. [1] The specific epithet (compacta) is a Latin word meaning "thick" or "firm". [4]

Distribution and habitat

This zieria mainly occurs south from the Darling Downs and Fraser Island in Queensland to the far south coast of New South Wales. It usually grows on steep rocky hillsides in poor soils near granite or sandstone. [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Zieria laevigata</i> Species of flowering plant

Zieria laevigata commonly known as smooth zieria, smooth-leaved zieria or twiggy midge bush is a species of flowering plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with smooth, three-part leaves and pale pink or white flowers with four petals and four stamens. It grows in poor soil on rocky outcrops and flowers from late winter to spring.

<i>Zieria arborescens</i> Species of flowering plant

Zieria arborescens, commonly known as the tree zieria or stinkwood, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a bushy shrub or small tree with branches that are ridged and scaly or hairy, at least when young. It has leaves composed of three leaflets and groups of flowers with four white petals, the groups usually shorter than the leaves.

<i>Zieria adenodonta</i> Species of flowering plant

Zieria adenodonta, commonly known as the Wollumbin zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a dense, bushy shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets which are warty on the upper surface. In winter and early spring it has groups of five to eight flowers, each with four white petals, the groups usually shorter than the leaves.

<i>Zieria minutiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Zieria minutiflora, commonly known as twiggy zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a small, erect, twiggy shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and clusters of small white flowers with four petals and four stamens. It usually grows as an understorey shrub in eucalypt woodland.

Zieria actites is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only found on a single, isolated mountain in Queensland. It is a dense, compact shrub with wiry branches, three-part leaves and small, cream to pale pink flowers with four petals and four stamens.

Zieria alata is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only found on mountains in the Mossman and Daintree areas in Queensland. It is an open shrub with wiry, lumpy branches, three-part leaves and small, white, cream-coloured or pale pink flowers in small groups, each with four petals and four stamens.

Zieria boolbunda is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only known from an area near Mount Perry in Queensland. It is a dense, compact shrub with wiry branches, three-part, clover-like leaves and pinkish-cream flowers in small groups, each flower with four petals and four stamens.

Zieria exsul is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to a small area of southeast Queensland. It is an open, straggly shrub with hairy branches, three-part leaves and white flowers in groups of up to twelve, the groups longer than the leaves and each flower with four petals and four stamens.

<i>Zieria fraseri</i> Species of shrub

Zieria fraseri is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a dense, bushy shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and white flowers with four petals and four stamens. It usually grows in rocky places on steep hills.

Zieria graniticola is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is a dense, compact shrub with erect wiry branches, three-part leaves and pale pink flowers in groups of up to three, each with four petals and four stamens. It is only known from two population near Stanthorpe in Queensland, Australia.

Zieria laxiflora, commonly known as wallum zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and clusters of about nine white or pale pink flowers with four petals and four stamens. It usually grows is coastal heathland.

Zieria madida is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and endemic to tropical north-eastern Queensland. It is an open, compact shrub with three-part leaves and up to ten white to pale pink flowers with four petals and four stamens arranged in the leaf axils. It usually grows in exposed, windswept locations on granite mountaintops.

Zieria obovata is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a small, open shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and with up to three cream-coloured to pale pink flowers with four petals and four stamens. It usually grows on steep, rocky slopes in wet open forest.

<i>Zieria parrisiae</i> Species of plant

Zieria parrisiae, commonly known as Parris' zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to a small area near Pambula on the south coast of New South Wales. It is a bushy shrub with warty, clover-like leaves composed of three leaflets and in spring there are clusters of up to 24 white to pale yellow flowers with four petals, near the ends of the branches.

<i>Zieria pilosa</i> Species of shrub

Zieria pilosa, commonly known as hairy zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to coastal New South Wales. It is a shrub with hairy branches, leaves composed of three leaflets and usually only single white to pale pink flowers in the leaf axils.

Zieria rimulosa is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to north Queensland. It is a shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and with white flowers with four petals and four stamens. Unlike many other zierias, its leaves are neither rough, glandular or densely hairy.

Zieria robusta, commonly known as round-leafed zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets which are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base. The flowers are pink to white and arranged in groups of up to nine and have four petals and four stamens.

<i>Zieria southwellii</i> Species of shrub

Zieria southwellii is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a large shrub or small tree with its leaves composed of three leaflets, and has groups of large numbers of flowers with four white petals, the groups shorter than the leaves. It grows near rainforest in northern New South Wales and far south-eastern Queensland.

Zieria vagans is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and endemic to a small area near Binjour in south-eastern Queensland. It is an open, straggly shrub with densely hairy branches, three-part leaves and groups of up to fifteen flowers with four creamy-white petals and four stamens.

Zieria whitei is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to a small area of north Queensland. It is a dense, compact shrub with erect wiry branches, three-part leaves and groups of up to three white to pale pink flowers with four petals and four stamens. It is only known from two populations.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Zieria compacta". APNI. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Zieria compacta". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney: plantnet. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Duretto, Marco F.; Forster, Paul Irwin (2007). "A taxonomic revision of the genus Zieria Sm. (Rutaceae) in Queensland". Austrobaileya. 7 (3): 495–497.
  4. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 790.