Three Threatened Plants 1. The Bomaderry Zieria – a rare and
curious plant! In 1883 when William Baeuerlen collected a
specimen from a Zieria shrub growing near Bomaderry Creek, he
would have had no idea that this previously unknown species
would be named after him and of the interest his finding would
inspire over a century later. Zierias are related to boronias
and, with their highly aromatic leaves, it may be of no surprise
to learn that they are in the citrus family. Classified as
endangered at both national and state levels, the Bomaderry
Zieria (Zieria baeuerlenii) is totally endemic to the Bomaderry
Creek Bushland where it was rediscovered in 1987 after being
classified as ‘presumed extinct’. It was originally thought to
be a hybrid of two other closely related Zieria species, but
this was proved to be incorrect when environmental scientist
Terry Barratt completed 2-year post-graduate work on the species
in 1999. Many important conservation biology questions were
examined by Terry such as: how does the