Zieria prostrata

Location & distribution maps

Plant  information

Common name:               ... 

Conservation status:   Endangered

Etymology:   

• The name Zieria honours "John Zier, a Polish botanist, who assisted F.C. Ehrhart in his collection of plants of the Electorate of Hanover, 1780-83, and afterwards worked in London, where he died in 1793"

• The specific epithet (prostrata) is a Latin word meaning "down flat" or "laid low"

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are pink in the bud stage but turn white as they open

• They are arranged in groups of mostly 3 to 7 (sometimes up to 32) in leaf axils and the groups are usually much shorter than the leaves

• The four sepal lobes are about 0.5 mm (0.02 in) long, 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 mainly occurs from late August to late September or October 

Fruit:                         

• A follicle composed of up to four sections joined at the base and which burst open to release their seeds when ripe

Leaves:         

• Its leaves are composed of three narrow oval leaflets with the middle leaflet 10–16 mm long and 4–6 mm wide and the others smaller

• Both surfaces of the leaf are the same colour, dotted with oil glands and glabrous

• A stalk 3–4 mm long

Stem & branches: 

•  Ridged branches 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• It is a prostrate shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and flowers with four pink to white petals

• It is a prostrate or low, scrambling shrub with glabrous, 

• It grows to a height of 0.5–1 m

Habitat:   

Distribution:                  

•  Endemic to the Coffs Harbour district in NSW

•  It is only known from four headlands and is classified as an endangered species

• Grows in low coastal heathland on headlands in a single nature reserve near Coffs Harbour

• It is difficult to count the population size but the National Parks and Wildlife Service estimated about one thousand individuals in 1998

• Other headlands along the NSW coastline have similar zierias and it is possible that other populations of this species may yet be discovered

Additional notes:     

• It was first formally described in 1996 by James Andrew Armstrong in Australian Native Plants: propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping

• The main threat to its survival is invasion by introduced species, especially kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum), bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monilifera) and lantana (Lantana camara)

Sources of information:

• (2023)