''Zieria caducibracteata'' is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a tall shrub or small tree with leaves composed of three lance-shaped leaflets. In early spring there are 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 caducibracteata'' is a tall shrub or small tree which grows to a height of and has its younger branches covered with short hairs. The leaves are composed of three leaflets with the leaflets narrow elliptic to lance-shaped, long and wide with a stalk long. The two surfaces of the leaflets are different shades of green, the lower surface covered with velvety hairs. The flowers are arranged in clusters which are shorter than the leaves, each flower on a stalk long. 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 long at the base of the cluster, but the bracts fall off early in the flowering period. The sepal lobes are triangular, long and hairy. The four

s are long and covered with short, soft hairs and there are 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. Flowering occurs from late August to September.

Taxonomy and naming

''Zieria caducibracteata'' was first formally described in 2002 by James Andrew Armstrong from a specimen collected near the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

between

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

and Lake Conjola. 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 ...

(''caducibracteata'') is derived from the Latin words ''caducus'' meaning "deciduous" or "falling" and ''bractea'' meaning "scale" or "small leaf".

Distribution and habitat

This zieria is found between the Colo River and the Batemans Bay district in New South Wales, where it grows in forest and the edges of rainforest in sandy soil, mainly near escarpments.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q18083186 caducibracteata Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 2002