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Eremophila platycalyx is a drought-tolerant shrub or small tree from arid Western Australia, grown for its abundant cream flowers that attract nectar-feeding birds. It thrives in full sun and well-drained soil and needs little water once established.
Eremophila platycalyx is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with its branches and leaves covered with a layer of matted hairs, although the hairs are sometimes obscured by resin. The shape of the leaves is variable, depending on subspecies, the sepals are often brightly coloured and the petals are cream-coloured, sometimes spotted on the outside. Two subspecies have been described but others have been discovered although not as yet formally described.
This eremophila bears masses of white to cream flowers which are attractive to nectar-feeding birds. Some forms also have colourful sepals which remain on the plant for much longer than the petals. Although slow-growing, it is long-lived and if regularly, lightly pruned from an early age, will keep its compact shape for many years. It can be propagated from cuttings or by grafting onto Myoporum rootstock and grown in a wide range of soils. It grows best in full sun, only needs an occasional watering during long droughts but can be sensitive to frost.
Subspecies platycalyx occurs in rocky places between Leonora and Shark Bay in the Carnarvon, Gascoyne, Gibson Desert, Little Sandy Desert, Murchison, Pilbara and Yalgoo biogeographic regions; subspecies pardalota grows in pebbly soil between Mt Augustus and Newman in the Gascoyne, Little Sandy Desert and Pilbara biogeographic regions; provisional subspecies Milgun occurs on a floodplain in rocky soil in the Gascoyne biogeographic region; provisional subspecies Neds Creek is found to the east of Neds Creek homestead, provisional subspecies large leaves between Newman and Kumarina and provisional subspecies small calyx between Paynes Find and Meekatharra.
Emu Bush · Diocirea acutifolia · Diocirea microphylla · Diocirea ternata · Diocirea violacea · Emu Bush · Eremophila abietina · Eremophila accrescens · Eremophila acrida · Eremophila adenotricha · Eremophila alatisepala · Narrow Leaved Emu Bush
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eremophila platycalyx by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
