Eremophila deserti is a shrub which is endemic to Australia. Common names for this species include turkey bush, dogwood, poison bushEllangowan poison bush, pencil bush and carrot bush. It is common and widespread in all mainland states, although not the Northern Territory. Some forms are poisonous to stock.
Description
Eremophila deserti varies in habit from a low spreading shrub high to a tall erect shrub up to high. Its leaves and branches are sticky and shiny when young due to the presence of resin. The leaves are arranged alternately along the stems and are mostly long, wide, glabrous, thick, linear and sickle-shaped with a hooked end. There are often separate male and female flowers whilst other flowers have both male and female parts. The flowers are honey-scented and are arranged singly or in groups of up to 3 in leaf axils on glabrous, sticky stalks long. There are 5 glabrous, green, tapering triangle-shaped sepals which are long. The 5 petals are joined at their lower end to form a tube long and the petal lobes on the end of the tube are a further long. The petals are white to cream-coloured, sometimes slightly pink near their bases. The petal lobes are similar in size and shape except for the lower middle lobe which has a small notch in its centre. The petal tube is mostly glabrous except for the inside part. There are 5 stamens, unlike most other eremophilas which have 4. The stamens almost block the entrance to the petal tube. Flowering occurs in most months and is followed by fruits which are fleshy, pale yellow at first ageing to brownish purple, oval to almost spherical and long.
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described in 1837 by George Bentham from an unpublished manuscript by Allan Cunningham. The description was published in Stephan Endlicher's Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel. In 1986, Robert Chinnock changed the name to Eremophila deserti. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word desertus meaning "a desert", probably named because the species was collected 'in the arid interior'".
