EremophilaKrichauff Ranges Fuchsia (Eremophila ovata) Native Fuchsia (Eremophila latrobei) MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia (Eremophila macdonnellii) Silky Eremophila (Eremophila nivea)
Eremophila nivea, known as Silky Eremophila and also commonly known as emu bush, is endemic to Western Australia and has become increasingly rare in the wild.
It has however, become a popular ornamental shrub for the bright purple violet flowers (some are more blue in colour) and the soft white to greyish matted hairs that cover the stems and leaves giving the plant a silvery-greyish appearance.
With the covering of woolly hairs, the leaves are linear and arranged alternately along the branches, approximately 8–18 mm long and 1.5–2.5 mm wide.
The purple violet flowers are borne singly or in pairs in the leaf axils and about 2–5.5 mm long. The 5 overlapping, triangular lance-shaped, sepals have a dark purplish (almost black) tips. The petals are joined at their lower end to form a tube, the petal tube a lilac-colour, white in the throat (sometimes yellow-brown spots inside). Whilst the outer surface of the tube and both surfaces of the lobes are glabrous, the inside of the tube is filled with long, soft white hairs and the 4 stamens are fully enclosed in the petal tube.
The flowers of the genus Eremophila are popular with insects, especially the introduced Apis mellifera (European Honey Bee).
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Phylum: Charophyta
- Class: Equisetopsida
- Subclass: Magnoliidae
- Superorder: Asteranae
- Order: Lamiales
- Family: Scrophulariaceae
- Genus: Eremophila
- Species: Eremophila nivea
- Unranked: Eremophila ‘BERYLS BLUE’
- Unranked: Eremophila nivea ‘BLUE VELVET’
Footnote & References
- Many thanks to Karlee Foster for ID, member of Alice Springs Field Naturalists Club, Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1379683398719247
- Eremophila nivea, Australian Native Plants Society (Australia), https://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/eremophila-nivea/
- Eremophila nivea Chinnock, Silky Eremophila, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2890894
- Eremophila nivea, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremophila_nivea
EremophilaKrichauff Ranges Fuchsia (Eremophila ovata) Native Fuchsia (Eremophila latrobei) MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia (Eremophila macdonnellii) Silky Eremophila (Eremophila nivea)
FloraFlora in Australia Flora Index Acacia Anigozanthos (Kangaroo Paws) Annual Yellowtop Apium prostratum subsp. prostratum var filiforme Apple Bush (Pterocaulon sphacelatum) Australian Bluebell Australian Gossypium Banksia Batswing Coral Tree Billy Buttons Birdsville Indigo Blue Pincushion Bush Banana Callistemon Callitris drummondii (Drummond’s Cypress Pine) Calothamnus quadrifidus Cape Honeysuckle Cassia fistula (Golden Shower) Cattle Bush Common Heath Crotalaria Darwinia wittwerorum (Wittwer’s Mountain Bell) Daviesia oppositifolia (Rattle-pea) Desert Oaks Drumsticks Eremophila Eucalyptus Ficus Flannel Cudweed (Actinobole uliginosum) Georges Indigo Goatshead Burr (Sclerolaena bicornis) Golden Everlasting Goodenia Gossypium Grass and Grasses Grass Trees Grevillea Grey Germander Hakea Kapok Bush (Aerva javanica) Lambertia sp Leptospermum MacDonnell Ranges Cycad Maireana scleroptera Mexican Poppy Minnie Daisy Mistletoe Family Nardoo Native Apricot Nicotiana megalosiphon subspecies sessilifolia Nuytsia floribunda Orange Spade Flower Orchidaceae Parakeelyas (Calandrinia) Pebble Bush (Stylobasium spathulatum) Perennial Yellow Top Pink Everlasting Pink Rock Wort Poached Egg Daisy Portulaca Proteaceae Ptilotus Quandong Resurrection Fern Rosy Dock Ruby Saltbush Santalum Solanum Spike Centaury Spinifex Storkbill (Erodum cygnorum) Striped Mint Bush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tall Saltbush Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Tribulus eichlerianus Upside-down Plant Urodon dasyphylla Variable Daisy Waratah (Telopea) Wertabona Daisy White Cedar (Melia azedarach) White Indigo White Paper Daisy Wild Passionfruit Wild Stock Woolly-Headed Burr Daisy Woolly Bush Yellow-keeled Swainsona