Species profile—Zieria actites (Mt Larcom stink bush)
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Rutaceae → Zieria actites (Mt Larcom stink bush)
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Rutaceae
- Scientific name
- Zieria actites Duretto & P.I.Forst.
- Common name
- Mt Larcom stink bush
- WildNet taxon ID
- 28656
- Alternate name(s)
- Mount Larcom stinkbush
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- CR
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Short Notes
- Status annotated by author (Duretto)
- Description
- Zieria actites is a glabrous or glabrescent shrub growing to 1m tall which forms a densely compact bush. The stems are erect and wiry. Branches have slightly decurrent leaf bases, and are weakly glandular and verrucose. The leaves are palmately trifoliate with an aniseed smell. The petioles are 2 to 10 mm long. The terminal leaflets are lanceolate to elliptic, 13 to 28 mm long and 6.5 to 11 mm wide. The lateral leaflets are similar to the terminal leaflets but smaller, 10 to 22 mm long and 4.5 to 9 mm wide. The laminae is pellucid and gland-dotted, not glandular verrucose. The laminae tips are acute and the margins are crenulate and slightly recurved. The midribs are raised slightly on the abaxial surface and weakly glandular varicose. The secondary veins are obscure. The inflorescence is axillary with 9 to 20 cream to pale-pink flowers which are covered with simple, bifid or stellate hairs. The peduncle is 8 to 20 mm long, and the secondary peduncles are 3 to 6 mm long. The bracts are linear-lanceolate, 1 to 3.5 mm long and persistent. The pedicels are 1.5 to 4 mm long and glabrous. The sepals are deltate, imbricate in bud, 1 to 1.5 mm long and 1mm wide, glabrous, with acute tips. The petals are narrow-elliptic, imbricate in bud, 1.8 to 2 mm long and 0.9 to 1 mm wide, cream to pale-pink in colour. The petals are scattered with stellate and simple hairs along the margins of the adaxial and abaxial surfaces. The fruits is 3 to 3.5 mm wide and 1.8 to 2 mm wide, glabrous, with the base of the style persistent forming minute apical apiculum. The seed is oblong-ovoid, 2.2 to 2.5 mm long and 1.2 to 1.4 mm wide, black-purple in colour, dull and slightly longitudinally striate (Duretto and Forster, 2007).
Zieria actites is similar to Z. compacta, however, Z. actites differs in the leaf laminae being glabrous below, the midrib is not impressed above, the leaflet margins are thickened and maybe slightly recurved and smaller petals (1.8 to 2 x 0. to 1 mm, versus 3.5 to 5 x 1.2 to 3.3 mm). Z. actites can be distinguished from Z. montana in having slightly decurrent leaf bases on the young branches only and crenulate leaf margins (Duretto and Forster, 2007). - Map
- View Map
- Distribution
- Zieria actites is endemic to Queensland and is presently known from a single locality at Mt Larcom west northwest of Gladstone within the Brigalow Belt Bioregion (Duretto and Forster 2007; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Distributional limits
- -23.8047222, 151.0838448
-23.8136991, 151.0854986 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Zieria actites is found only at Mt Larcom. The species grows in open woodland/shrubland in crevices and clefts on exposed outcrops and cliff lines on quartz alunite at approximately 630m asl (Duretto and Forster, 2007; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Reproduction
- Flowers, fruit and seed of Zieria actites have been collected from September to May (Duretto and Forster, 2007).
- Threatening processes
- The only known location of Zieria actites, Mt Larcom, is not in a conservation reserve, and as the site has a walking track to the summit, the location is a popular destination for bushwalkers. The population is limited (less than 1000 individuals), and the species in found beside the walking track. Current threats include destruction of individuals and populations by bushwalkers visiting Mt Larcom; chance stochastic events that reduce or eliminate the population; genetic inbreeding depression due to the small population size; weed invasion that may reduce available resources or habitat for future recruitment; and inappropriate fire regimes, given that the species occurs in area that is rarely burnt (due to lack of fuel) (Duretto and Forster 2007; Forster, 2008).
- Status notes
- Zieria actites is listed as Endangered under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992
- Management recommendations
- Forster (2008) recommends that Zieria actites requires intensive field survey to locate further populations and to determine the geographical range, area of occupancy and number and persistence of individuals. As there is no information available on the genetics, reproductive biology, dispersal, recruitment or population structure of this species, this is an area which also requires further research.
- References
- Bostock, P.D. and Holland, A.E. (eds) (2010). Census of the Queensland Flora 2010. Queensland Herbarium, Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane.
Duretto, M.F. and Forster, P.I. (2007). A taxonomic revision of the genus Zieria Sm. (Rutaceae) in Queensland. Austrobaileya 7 (3): 480-482, .
Forster, P. (2008). Conservation Status Assessment for Zieria actites Rare and Threatened Species Technical Committee November 2008.
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 06/01/2012. - Profile author
- Lynise Wearne (06/01/2012)
Other resources
Data source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=28656.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
