''Zieria minutiflora'', commonly known as twiggy zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a small, erect, twiggy shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and 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 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 ...

s. It usually grows as an understorey shrub in eucalypt woodland.

Description

''Zieria minutiflora'' is an erect, twiggy shrub which grows to a height of about . The branches are hairy at first but become glabrous with age. Its leaves are composed of three leaflets with the middle leaflet long and wide. The leaf stalk is long. The upper surface of the leaves has scattered hairs and the lower surface is covered with soft hairs. The leaflets have a rounded or sometimes a notched end . The flowers are white to pale pink or cream-coloured and are arranged singly or in groups of up to three 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 groups are shorter than the leaves. The four sepal lobes are about long and the four petals are long and covered with short, branched hairs. In common with other zierias there are only four

s. Flowering occurs from November to May and is followed by fruit which is a glabrous follicle composed of up to four sections joined at the base and which burst open to release their seeds when ripe.

Taxonomy and naming

''Zieria minutiflora'' was first formally described in 1926 by Karel Domin from a specimen collected near the

Glasshouse Mountains The Glass House Mountains are a cluster of thirteen hills that rise abruptly from the coastal plain on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. The highest hill is Mount Beerwah at 556 metres above sea level, but the most identifiable of a ...

. (The species was first described by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

as ''Boronia minutiflora'' but the name was not validly published.) 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 ...

(''minutiflora'') is derived from the Latin words ''minutus'' meaning "little" or "small" and ''flora'' meaning "flowers". Two subspecies have been described: *''Zieria minutiflora'' Dominsubsp. ''minutiflora'' which has a glabrous

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

and fruit; *''Zieria minutiflora'' subsp. ''trichocarpa'' J.A.Armstr. which has a hairy ovary and fruit and only occurs in Queensland.

Distribution and habitat

Twiggy zieria mainly occurs north from

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

in New South Wales and as far north in Queensland as

Danbulla National Park and State Forest Danbulla National Park and State Forest is a national park and state forest complex in Queensland, Australia, around 60 km west of Cairns. The forest is spectacular and covers an area of 12,000 hectares, including eucalyptus, acacia and pin ...

on the

Atherton Tableland The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tina ...

. It usually grows in eucalypt forest and woodland but also occurs in rocky coastal areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18083136 minutiflora Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1926