''Zieria oreocena'', commonly known as Grampians zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to Victoria, Australia. It is a spindly shrub with glabrous, three-part, clover-like leaves and clusters of up to thirty 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 is a rare species, mostly found in the northern Grampians.

Description

''Zieria oreocena'' is a spindly shrub which grows to a height of . Its branches are glabrous, dotted with translucent glands and have distinct ridges. The leaves are more or less glabrous and are composed of three lance-shaped leaflets with a petiole long. The central leaflet is long, wide. The flowers are arranged in clusters of between 7 and 29 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 shorter than the leaves. The sepals are triangular, long and covered with woolly hairs. The four

s are white, long and covered with soft hairs. There are four stamens. Flowering occurs in spring and is followed by fruit which are glabrous capsules containing striped reddish-brown seeds.

Taxonomy and naming

''Zieria oreocena'' was first formally described in 2002 by James Armstrong from a specimen collected near Mount Zero in the Grampians and 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 ...

is derived from Greek words meaning "a mountain" and "empty", referring to the Mount Zero area, where the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

specimens were collected.

Distribution and habitat

Grampians zieria grows in woodland and shrubland on shallow rocky soils, as well as riparian scrubs on alluvium. It occurs mostly in the northern Grampians and along creek lines in the southernmost Victoria Range.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18083792 oreocena Sapindales of Australia Flora of Victoria (state) Plants described in 2002