Common name: Turkeybush
Eremophila deserti (A.Cunn. ex Benth.) Chinnock APNI* Synonyms: Myoporum deserti A.Cunn. ex Benth. APNI* Myoporum dulce Benth. APNI*
Description: Glabrous shrub to 4 m high, branches sometimes obscurely tuberculate; usually dioecious or sometimes flowers bisexual.
Leaves linear to oblanceolate, mostly 2–5.5 cm long, 3–8 mm wide, apex acute and hooked, margins entire, glabrous.
Flowers 1–4 in axils; pedicels reflexed, 5–10 mm long. Sepals ± imbricate basally, triangular, 2–3 mm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, apex acuminate, green. Corolla almost rotate, 4–7 mm long, cream, unspotted, glabrous outside; lobes obtuse. Stamens 5, enclosed, anthers sagittate.
Fruit ovoid to subglobose, 4–6.5 mm long, 4–5.5 mm diam., exocarp succulent, yellow to black, endocarp woody.
Flowering: late winter to early summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in a wide variety of communities on calcareous red earths to skeletal soils on hillsides; west from Singleton area.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, NT, CT, NWS, CWS, SWS, NWP, SWP, NFWP, SFWP
Other Australian states: Qld Vic. W.A. S.A.
There are specimens with narrow leaves (< 2 mm wide) from the Pilliga Scrub area (P.G. Kodela, 2009, pers. comm.).
Text by R. J. Chinnock Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
|