The discovery of Sydney's newest plant was not a quick or simple exercise.

Andrew Robinson, a bushland officer with the Ku-ring-gai Council, was on his first visit to a nature reserve back in 2006 when his eyes fixed on a "straggly little thing" less than a metre from the track.

So close to Sydney and yet so new: Julian's Hibbertia and its finder, Andrew Robinson. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Kneeling down, Mr Robinson examined the plant up close. Clearly a native hibbertia, it was one the then-24-year-old couldn't identify from the thousand or so plant species he'd memorised.

"I've just been a plant nerd basically my entire life," said Mr Robinson, a keen bushwalker formerly from Narara near Gosford. "From about the age of 7or 8 ... I remember thinking how cool it would be to come across a new plant and have it named after myself."