Zieria adenophora
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Araluen zieria | |
|---|---|
 | |
| In the ANBG | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Rutaceae |
| Genus: | Zieria |
| Species: | Z. adenophora |
| Binomial name | |
| Zieria adenophora | |
Zieria adenophora, commonly known as the Araluen Zieria,[2] is a plant in the family Rutaceae and is only found near Araluen in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. It is a spreading shrub with small glossy, warty leaves and white or pink four-petalled flowers in spring. It is a rare plant with fewer than one hundred plants known from only one site.
Zieria adenophora is an openly branched shrub which grows to a height of 0.5–1 m (2–3 ft) and has its branches covered with many small warty tubercles. The leaves are strongly aromatic and are composed of three leaflets, each leaflet wedge-shaped to egg-shaped, about 2.5–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide with a stalk about 2 mm (0.08 in) long. Both surfaces of the leaves are warty and mostly glabrous.[2][3][4]
The flowers are white or very pale pink and are arranged in leaf axils in groups of one to three. The groups are shorter than the leaves, each flower about 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter with small, triangular sepals. There are four lance-shaped petals 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) long, with the narrower end towards the base. Flowering occurs in spring and is followed by fruit which are warty capsules about 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter and divided into four chambers, each containing one or two seeds.[2][3][4]
Taxonomy and naming
Zieria adenophora was first formally described in 1941 by William Blakely from a specimen collected near Bells Creek Falls, Araluen. The description was published in Contributions from the New South Wales National Herbarium.[5] The specific epithet (adenophora) is derived from the Ancient Greek word aden meaning "gland"[6]: 369 and the suffix -phor meaning "to bear", "to carry" or "to have".[6]: 187