''Zieria buxijugum'', commonly known as the Box Range zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to a small area on the south coast of New South Wales. It is a dense, rounded shrub with strongly scented, velvety, clover-like leaves composed of three leaflets. In early spring there are large clusters of small white flowers with four

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s near the ends of the branches.

Description

''Zieria buxijugum'' is a dense, rounded shrub which usually grows to a height of and has warty branches covered with short hairs. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and are composed of three leaflets with the central leaflet linear to narrow lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide with a stalk long. The other two leaflets are similar in shape but slightly shorter. Each leaflet is a dull grey-green, has a velvety covering of hairs and warty blisters and is strongly scented when crushed. Masses of white flowers about in diameter are arranged in clusters of between 10 and 16 but sometimes as many as 28, in leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s. The clusters have a hairy, warty stalk long and are usually longer than the leaves. There are one or two

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s at the base of the cluster. The sepals are triangular, less than long and covered with velvety hairs. The four

s are egg-shaped, about long, wide, densely hairy on the lower side and sparsely hairy on top. The four

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are tipped with an orange-red anther. Flowering occurs mainly in September and is followed by fruit which is a more or less glabrous capsule.

Taxonomy and naming

''Zieria buxijugum'' was first formally described in 2002 by John Briggs and James Andrew Armstrong from a specimen collected west of

Pambula Pambula is a town in Bega Valley Shire on the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia south of Sydney via the Princes Highway. At the , Pambula had a population of 970 people. History The area was populated by the Thaua Aboriginal peo ...

. The description was published in '' Australian Systematic Botany''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''buxijugum'') is derived from the Latin words ''buxus'' meaning "wood" and ''jugum'' meaning "ridge" or "summit of a mountain".

Distribution and habitat

Box Range zieria is only known from a rock outcrop on private property west of Pambula.

Conservation

This zieria is listed as "Critically Endangered" under the New South Wales ''Threatened Species Conservation Act'' and as "Endangered" under the Commonwealth Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (EPBC) Act. Since its discovery the population size has fluctuated from 68 when discovered in 1986 to 40 in the mid-1990s to 32 mature individuals in 2001 when wire mesh guards were erected to prevent grazing by swamp wallabies. By 2016, the population had increased to 130. The main threats to the species are grazing by wallabies and future changes in land ownership.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q18082991 buxijugum Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 2002