''Eremophila clarkei'', commonly known as turpentine bush, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the figwort

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

. It is a shrub which is variable in form, but usually with narrow leaves and white or pale pink flowers. It is similar to '' Eremophila georgei'' and '' Eremophila granitica''.

Description

''Eremophila clarkei'' is an erect shrub growing to a height of between and wide with branches that are flattened near their tip,

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

and very sticky due to the presence of

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on n ...

. The leaves are dark green, widely spaced and arranged alternately along the stems, linear to narrow elliptic in shape and mostly long and wide. The leaf margins may be smooth, wavy or toothed. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on an s-shaped, flattened stalk which is long. There are 5 linear, green to purple

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s differing slightly in length, long and lance-shaped. The petals are long and joined at their lower end to form a tube. The petal tube is white, pink, mauve or purple. The outside of the tube and petal lobes are hairy while the inner surface of the lobes is glabrous and the inside of the tube is filled with woolly hairs. The lowest petal lobe covers the opening of the petal tube. Flowering occurs from March to October and is followed by fruits which are dry, woody oval to cone-shaped and long. Eremophila granitica habit

Taxonomy and naming

''Eremophila clarkei'' was first formally described by

Augustus Frederick Oldfield Augustus Frederick Oldfield (1821–1887) was an English botanist and zoologist who made large collections of plant specimens in Australia. Oldfield was born on 12 January 1821 in London, England. He made botanical collections in Tasmania, the coa ...

and Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859 and the description was published in '' Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae''. The type specimen was collected by Oldfield "near the mouth of the Murchison River". The specific epithet (''clarkei'') honours William Clark, a patron of botanical collecting who supported the expedition during which the type collection was made.

Distribution

Turpentine bush is widespread and common in the

Eremaean The Eremaean province is a botanical region in Western Australia, characterised by a desert climate. It is sometimes referred to as the ''dry and arid inland'' or ''interior'' region of Western Australia It is one of John Stanley Beard's phytoge ...

and

South-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

botanical provinces in Western Australia where it grows in sand or clay soils. It is also found in the extreme south west of the Northern Territory where it is classified as "near threatened" and in South Australia. Its occurrence in that state was first recorded in 1977.

Conservation status

''Eremophila clarkei'' is classified as "not threatened' by the Government of Western Australia

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

Use in horticulture

Turpentine bush is drought hardy and moderately frost hardy. It is most easily propagated by grafting onto ''

Myoporum ''Myoporum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae (formerly placed in Myoporaceae). There are 30 species in the genus, eighteen of which are endemic to Australia although others are endemic to Pacific Islands, in ...

'' species and grows well in a wide range of soils but dos best in a sunny situation.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5385558 clarkei Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1859 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller