''Zieria scopulus'' is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and endemic to south-eastern Queensland. It is an open, compact shrub with wiry branches, three-part leaves and groups of up to twenty 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, although only a small number of flowers are open at the same time. It is only known from two peaks of volcanic rock near Ipswich.

Description

''Zieria scopulus'' is an open, compact shrub which grows to a height of or more and has wiry branches. The leaves are composed of three more or less elliptic leaflets, the central leaflet one long and wide. The leaves have a petiole long. The sides of the leaflets are wavy, especially near the tip. The flowers are arranged in groups of up to twenty 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, although only one to three are open at the same time. The groups are on a stalk long. The flowers are surrounded by scale-like

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. The sepals are triangular, about long and wide and the four petals are white, elliptic in shape, about long and wide with star-like hairs on the outer surface. There are four stamens. Flowering occurs in May and June and is followed by fruit which are smooth, glabrous capsules long and about wide.

Taxonomy and naming

''Zieria scopulus'' was first formally described in 2007 by

Marco Duretto Marco Duretto (born 1964) is a manager and senior research scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney in Australia. His primary research interests are systematics and conservation of Rutaceae, Rubiaceae, Orchidaceae, Stylidiaceae and evo ...

and Paul Irwin Forster from a specimen collected from Mount Elliot near Ipswich and the description was published in '' Austrobaileya''. 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 ...

(''scopulus'') is a Latin word meaning "projecting rock, shelf, ledge or cliff" referring to the habitat of this species.

Distribution and habitat

This zieria is only known from Mount Elliot and Flinders Peak where it grows in stony cracks and crevices of trachyte.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18084395

scopulus In planetary geology, a scopulus (pl. ''scopuli'' , from Greek ''σκόπελος'' "peak") is a lobate or irregular escarpment. In the early 1970s, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted ''scopulus'' as one of a number of official d ...

Sapindales of Australia Flora of Queensland Taxa named by Marco Duretto Plants described in 2007 Taxa named by Paul Irwin Forster