Zieria tuberculata
Warty Zieria
Warty Zieria
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Common name: Warty zieria
Conservation status: Vulnerable
Zieria tuberculata is listed as "Vulnerable" under the Commonwealth Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC) Act and under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act
About 900 individual plants from eight populations in an area of about 600 ha are known
The main threats to its survival are habitat destruction caused by grazing animals and the weeds lantata (Lantana camara) and ivy (Hedera helix)
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 (tuberculata) is a Latin word meaning "full of lumps"
Flowers:
The flowers are creamy-white and are arranged in upper leaf axils in large groups of up to 200
The groups are shorter than the leaves and each flower is 5.2–7.3 mm in diameter on a stalk 1.1–2.5 mm long
There are four narrow triangular sepal lobes less than 1.5–2.5 mm long and four petals 2.5–4 mm long
In common with other zierias, there are only four stamens
Flowering occurs from late winter to spring
Pollinated by pollen-feeding beetles and flies and by nectar-feeding flies
Fruit:
Leaves:
The leaves are composed of three narrow leaflets with the central one, 25–50 mm long and 2–3.5 mm wide with a stalk 4–8 mm long
The leaflets are dull green on the upper surface, whitish and warty on the lower side
Leaves which are covered with star-like hairs, usually visible only with a magnifier
Roots:
Stem & branches:
Has warty branches which are covered with star-like hairs, usually visible only with a magnifier
Roots:
Habit:
A shrub that grows to a height of 3.5 m
Habitat:
Grows in exposed, rocky outcrops on the edge of rainforest
Distribution:
Endemic to a small area on the south coast of NSW
Occurs in the Mount Gulaga area
Additional notes:
Taxonomy
Zieria tuberculata was first formally described in 2002 by James Armstrong
The description was published in Australian Systematic Botany
Sources of information: