Zieria actites is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is only found on a single, isolated mountain in Queensland. It is a dense, compact shrub with wiry branches, three-part leaves and small, cream to pale pink flowers with four petals and four stamens.
Zieria actites is a dense, compact shrub which grows to a height of 1sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 and has erect, wiry branches. The leaves have three parts, resembling clover leaves and have a smell like aniseed. The central leaflet is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long, NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with the other two leaflets slightly smaller. The leaflets have a distinct mid-vein on the lower surface and transparent oil glands. The leaf stalk is NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long.[1] [2]
The flowers are cream to pale pink and are arranged in leaf axils in groups of between nine and twenty on a stalk NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. The four petals are narrow elliptical in shape, about 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and hairy near their edges and the four stamens are less than 1sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long. Flowering mainly occurs from September to May and is followed by fruit which is a glabrous capsule, about 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide.
Zieria actites was first formally described in 2007 by Marco Duretto and Paul Irwin Forster from a specimen collected on Mount Larcom, 5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 north-west of Yarwun and the description was published in Austrobaileya.[3] The specific epithet (actites) is said to be derived from the Greek word actites, meaning "watcher", referring to the fact that the Pacific ocean can be seen from the mountain tops where this species occurs. In Ancient Greek, aktitēs (ἀκτίτης) is however the word for "dweller on the coast".[4]
This zieria grows in open woodland in crevices on rocky cliffs and outcrops on Mount Larcom, higher than about 630sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 above sea leavel.
This zieria is listed as "Endangered" under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992.