''Zieria parrisiae'', commonly known as Parris' zieria, is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to a small area near

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 ...

on the south coast of New South Wales. It is a bushy shrub with warty, clover-like leaves composed of three leaflets and in spring there are clusters of up to 24 white to pale yellow 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 parrisiae'' is a bushy shrub or small tree which sometimes grows to a height of . Its younger branches are warty and covered with star-like hairs. The leaves are composed of three lance-shaped leaflets on a petiole long and the central leaflet is long and wide. The upper surface of the leaflets is dark green, warty and more or less glabrous while the lower surface is a lighter green and covered with velvety, star-like hairs. Clusters of between 9 and 25 white to pale yellow flowers are arranged 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 about the same length as the leaves. The clusters are surrounded by

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 which remain during flowering. Each flower has four triangular sepal lobes long and four spoon-shaped

s about long and covered with soft hairs. 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 in October and November and is followed in December and January by fruit which is a warty, glabrous, four-chambered capsule.

Taxonomy and naming

''Zieria parrisiae'' was first formally described in 2002 by John D. Briggs and

James Andrew Armstrong James is a common English language surname and given name: * James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambigua ...

from a specimen collected west of Pambula and the description was published in '' Australian Systematic Botany''.

Distribution and habitat

Parris' zieria grows in tall open forest in Wadbilliga National Park, the

South East Forests National Park The South East Forests National Park is a national park located in between the Monaro and South Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia. The national park is situated southwest of Sydney. It features high quality old growth eucalyptus ...

and near Cochrane Dam.

Conservation

This zieria is listed as "vulnerable" under the New South Wales ''Threatened Species Conservation Act'' and as "vulnerable" under the Commonwealth Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (EPBC) Act. The main threat to the species is the small size of each of its populations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18083933 parrisiae Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 2002