''Eremophila exilifolia'' 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 Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, Scrophulariaceae, 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 elsew ...

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 ...

. It is a widely distributed shrub which is shaped like an inverted cone and has small, very sticky leaves and branches and lilac-coloured flowers.

Description

''Eremophila exilifolia'' is an erect, flat-topped shrub with very sticky foliage usually growing to a height of between . The branches are thickly coated with

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 natu ...

making them sticky and shiny but often becoming black due to the growth of sooty mould. The leaves are also thickly covered with resin and are crowded, often overlapping each other near the ends of the branches. They are also pitted, the pits often appearing as dark spots. The leaves are linear to almost club-shaped, long and wide. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on a sticky stalk long. There are five sticky green

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 coined b ...

s, which are mostly long but differ in shape from each other. The

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are long and joined at their lower end to form a tube. The petals are a shade of lilac, either dark or very pale, rarely white, and the inside of the tube is white with purple spots. The petal tube is mostly covered with glandular hairs, but the inner side of the petal lobes is glabrous. The inside of the tube is filled with woolly hairs, and the four

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are fully enclosed in the petal tube. Flowering occurs from April to October and is followed by fruits, that are a broad oval shape, glabrous, and long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Eremophila exilifolia'' was first formally described in 1876 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''exilifolia'') is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

words ''exilis'' meaning “small” and ''folium'' meaning "a leaf" referring to the small leaves of this species.

Distribution and habitat

This eremophila is common and widespread in central areas of Western Australia, often found growing on rocky hills in red stony soils but also on flat areas, mostly in the Eremaean botanical province. It usually grows in mulga

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

and is often the dominant shrub in these areas.

Conservation status

''Eremophila exilifolia'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

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

The pale flowers of this eremophila contrast with its glossy, dark green leaves. It occurs naturally in arid areas and would probably not survive in humid areas or those subject to frosts. It has been 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 ...

'' rootstock and grows best in well-drained soil in a sunny location.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15594947 exilifolia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1876 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller