''Zieria floydii'', commonly known as the Floyd's zieria, is a plant in the citrus

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Rutaceae The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in BoDD – Botanical Derm ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the New England Tableland in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. It is an erect shrub with warty, hairy branches, three-part,

clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

-like leaves and clusters of creamy-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 and 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 ...

Description

''Zieria floydii'' is an erect shrub which usually grows to a height of . Its younger branches are densely covered with warty lumps and star-like hairs, including on the warts. The leaves are composed of three leaflets with the central one narrow elliptic to lance-shaped, long, about wide and with a petiole long. The leaflets are slightly warty-hairy on the upper surface and densely warty on the lower surface with the mid-vein covered with star-like hairs. Creamy-white flowers about in diameter are arranged in clusters of between 20 and 80 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 are shorter than the leaves. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are triangular, less than long and warty. The four

s are about long, overlap each other and are densely hairy. There are four stamens. Flowering occurs mainly in November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Zieria floydii'' was first formally described in 2002 by James Armstrong from a specimen collected near Big Scrub Creek in the

Guy Fawkes River National Park Guy Fawkes River National Park, a national park comprising , is located on the eastern edge of the New England Tablelands and the western edge of the Dorrigo Plateau, in north eastern New South Wales, Australia. Access to the national park via ...

. The description was published in ''

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as bio ...

''. 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 ...

(''floydii'') honours the Australian botanist, Alex Floyd who collected the type specimen.

Distribution and habitat

Floyd's zieria is only known from the Guy Fawkes and Chaelundi National Parks where it mostly grows on the margins of dry rainforest, sometimes in wet forest or heath.

Conservation

This zieria is listed as "Endangered" under the New South Wales ''Threatened Species Conservation Act'' and under the Commonwealth Government ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...

'' (EPBC) Act. Some of the threats to the species are inappropriate fire regimes, grazing by feral goats (''

Capra hircus The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of Caprinae, goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a membe ...

'') and land clearing.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18081746 floydii Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 2002