Zieria compacta

An erect, bushy shrub, growing to about 2 metres high with a 1-metre spread and forming a compact, dense habit.

It has a large distribution, mainly occurring in the tablelands areas of the east coast, from as far north as east of Tambo in Queensland, extending east to Fraser Island, south through Towoomba, Warwick and then around Glen Innes in NSW. Through NSW, there is a somewhat of a disjunction with some scattered records west of Coonabarabran, and between Gloucester and Armidale, then many records in Wollemi National Park, extending south through the Blue Mountains and southern highlands, then with a large disjunction to the south coast near Bega and Pambula.

It usually grows on steep rocky hillsides in poor soils on granite or sandstone.

Branches are dotted with oil glands, with stellate hairs, becoming hairless as they get older.

Zieria spp. have leaves arranged in opposite pairs, compound with three leaflets (tri-foliolate) or one leaflet (uni-foliolate). When trifoliolate, the leaflets are often similar in shape with the middle leaflet often larger, and with leaves usually strongly odorous, green to grey-green.
In this species, the leaves are trifoliolate, with leaflets elliptic to ovate, with the middle leaflet to 35 mm long and to 8 mm wide and the others smaller,

Zieria spp. have flowers arranged in groups (cymose clusters) in the leaf axils and have four sepals joined at the base and four petals, alternating with the sepals. There are four stamens and four fused carpels.
In this species, flowers are white to pale pink and are arranged in clusters, as long as the leaves, of mostly 6 flowers (but sometimes can be anywhere from 1 to 35) in leaf axils. The clusters are usually about as long as the leaves, occurring in spring.

Zieria have a fruit described as a schizocarp-capsule which splits into segments called cocci (singular coccus). Fruit generally have four lobes, each containing one or two seeds. In this species the fruit is glabrous, composed of up to four sections joined at the base and which burst open to release their seeds when ripe.