Zieria hydroscopica

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Zieria hydroscopica
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Zieria
Species:
Z. hydroscopica
Binomial name
Zieria hydroscopica

Zieria hydroscopica is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only known from a single state forest near Monto in Queensland. It is a small shrub with erect, wiry branches, three-part leaves and groups of large numbers of flowers, the groups smaller than the leaves and the flowers with four petals and four stamens. It is similar to Zieria smithii , differing only in the type of hairs on the branches and lower surface of the leaves.

Contents

Description

Zieria hydroscopica is a shrub which grows to a height of 50 cm (20 in) and has erect, wiry branches with scattered, star-like hairs. The leaves are composed of three narrow elliptic to narrow lance-shaped leaflets with the narrower end towards the base. The leaves have a petiole 8–11 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long and the central leaflet is 20–33 mm (0.8–1 in) long and 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) wide. Both sides of the leaflets are slightly hairy. The flowers are white and are arranged in groups of between eight and 25 or more in leaf axils, the groups on a stalk 2–8 mm (0.08–0.3 in) long. The sepals are triangular, about 1 mm (0.04 in) long and wide and the four petals are elliptic in shape, about 2 mm (0.08 in) long and 1.5 mm (0.06 in) wide, densely covered with star-shaped hairs on both sides. The four stamens are about 1 mm (0.04 in) long. Flowering occurs mainly in September and is followed by fruit which is a more or less glabrous capsule. [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Zieria hydroscopica was first formally described in 2007 by Marco Duretto and Paul Irwin Forster from a specimen collected in the Coominglah State Forest near Monto. The description was published in Austrobaileya . [1] The specific epithet (hydroscopica) is said to be derived from the Greek hydro-, meaning "water" and scopic, meaning "watcher", referring to specimens of this species often growing near waterholes. [2] The proper words in ancient Greek for "water" and "watcher" are hydōr (ὕδωρ) and skopos (σκοπός). [3]

A doctoral thesis has proposed, on the basis of DNA analysis, that this species is a hybrid between Z. smithii and Z. cytisoides . [4]

Distribution and habitat

This zieria has been seen growing in open forest and near rocky creek beds in the Coominglah State Forest. [2]

Related Research Articles

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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 compacta</i> Species of shrub

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Zieria bifida is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only known from two areas near Nambour in Queensland. It is an open, straggly shrub with hairy branches, three-part leaves and small, white flowers in small groups, each flower 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 cephalophila is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only found on a single, isolated mountain in Queensland. It is a compact shrub with wiry branches, warty, three-part leaves and one to three white flowers, each with four petals and four stamens, in leaf axils.

Zieria distans is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only found on a few isolated mountains in Queensland. It is a straggly shrub with wiry branches, warty, three-part leaves and clusters of up to about twenty small white flowers, each with four petals and four stamens, in the leaf axils.

Zieria eungellaensis is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only found on a few isolated mountains in Queensland. It is a compact but open shrub with wiry branches, three-part leaves and flowers in small groups, each flower white or pink with four petals and four stamens, and is endemic to the Eungella National Park.

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 inexpectata is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and endemic to south-eastern Queensland. It is a small, compact shrub with erect, wiry branches, three-part leaves and groups of up to twelve white flowers, the groups longer than the leaves and the flowers with four petals and four stamens. It was unexpectedly discovered by the authors during a field trip and its discovery led to a paper describing the zierias of Queensland, including sixteen new species.

Zieria insularis is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and endemic to tropical north-eastern Queensland. It is an open, straggly shrub with wiry or spindly branches, three-part leaves and between one and a few white flowers with four petals and four stamens arranged in the leaf axils. It mostly grows near granite outcrops which are surrounded by forest or rainforest.

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 robertsiorum is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to the wet tropics of far north-eastern Queensland. It is a shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and flowers with four white petals. The flowers are arranged in groups of up to ten which are no longer than the leaves.

Zieria scopulus is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and endemic to south-eastern Queensland. It is an open, compact shrub with wiry branches, three-part leaves and groups of up to twenty white flowers with four petals and four stamens, although only a small number of flowers are open at the same time. It is only known from two peaks of volcanic rock near Ipswich.

Zieria tenuis is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and endemic to the northern inland of Queensland. It is an open, straggly shrub with wiry branches, three-part leaves and groups of nine to twelve flowers with four white or pinkish petals and four stamens. It is similar to Z. collina but has larger petals, and to Z. cytisoides which has different leaf venation and differently shaped leaflets.

Zieria vagans, commonly known as Gurgeena stink bush, 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 "Zieria hydroscopica". APNI. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Duretto, Marco F.; Forster, Paul I. (2007). "A taxonomic revision of the genus Zieria Sm. (Rutaceae) in Queensland". Austrobaileya. 7 (3): 512–514.
  3. Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie.Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  4. Barrett, Rosemary Ann. "Phylogeny and phylogeography of Zieria (Rutaceae)". University of Melbourne. Retrieved 2 August 2017.