Categories | Shrub |
Common Name(s) | Turkeybush, Ellangowan Poison Bush |
Family | Scrophulariaceae |
"Glabrous shrub to 4 m high,..." (PlantNet) Eremophila desertii may grow to 4m high, however it is quite variable in this regard. In southern and central Queensland, it is often 0.5-2m high.
Seed units are supplied commercially as dried fruit. The fruit are yellow when ripe and can easily be collected and dried for direct sowing into plantings. Often, the cropping plants will have low height and collection periods of shorter duration are practiced for limiting back strain.
Seed collection is achieved by removing fruiting material and drying on tarps over a few days. Threshing by manual means is productive. Sieving and air-separation can be used on concentrates taken from tarps. Purified fruit should be further dried for an extended period, possibly a week or two, in warm dry conditions so that stored product will not become mouldy.
Eremophila desertii is found in all states except Northern Territory and Tasmania, from lower rainfall coastal areas to well inland. In Queensland it is often in brigalow but also Eucalyptus woodland on heavier soils.
PlantNET (The NSW Plant Information Network System). Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney. http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au [Accessed: March 3, 2021]
https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Eremophila~deserti
https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2897363