Zieria robertsiorum facts for kids

Zieria robertsiorum is a special plant found only in the wet, tropical parts of far north-eastern Queensland, Australia. It belongs to the citrus family, just like oranges and lemons! This plant is a shrub with leaves made of three small parts called leaflets. Its pretty flowers are white and have four petals. These flowers grow in small groups, usually no longer than the leaves themselves.

What Zieria Robertsiorum Looks Like

Zieria robertsiorum is a shrub that can grow up to 2 m (7 ft) tall. When its branches are young, they are covered in tiny hairs.

Its leaves are made up of three smaller leaf parts, called leaflets. These leaflets are long and narrow, or shaped like an egg. The middle leaflet is about 6–23 mm (0.2–0.9 in) long and 2–11 mm (0.08–0.4 in) wide. Each leaf has a small stem called a petiole, which is about 2–10 mm (0.08–0.4 in) long. The leaves are mostly flat and have special glandular hairs on them.

The flowers are white and grow in groups of 3 to 10. These groups appear where the leaves meet the stem, which is called a leaf axil. Only about three flowers open at the same time in each group. The flower groups are not longer than the leaves.

Each flower has small, scaly parts called bracts around it, which are about 3 mm (0.1 in) long. It also has four small green parts called sepals, each about 1 mm (0.04 in) long and wide. The four white petals are about 1.5–3.5 mm (0.06–0.1 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) wide. Like other plants in the Zieria group, it has only four stamens, which are the parts that produce pollen.

This plant usually flowers from May to December. After the flowers, it produces a smooth fruit called a follicle. This fruit is about 3 mm (0.1 in) long and 2 mm (0.08 in) wide.

How Zieria Robertsiorum Got Its Name

The plant Zieria robertsiorum was officially named in 1996. It was described by a scientist named James Andrew Armstrong. He wrote about it in a science journal called Australian Systematic Botany. The first plant used to describe the species was found on Mount Finnegan.

Where Zieria Robertsiorum Lives

This special Zieria plant grows in rocky places. You can find it in cracks in rocks and between large granite boulders. It prefers windy woodlands in the wet tropical region of far northern Queensland.