The genus
Eremophila was first formally described in 1810 by the botanist
Robert Brown in
Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae and the first species to be named were
E. oppositifolia and
E. alternifolia but Brown did not nominate a
type species. The
Victorian government botanist,
Ferdinand von Mueller was the most influential early naturalist to take an interest in the genus and described 47 species, many of which were collected during expeditions to remote areas of Australia.
Robert Chinnock is the modern authority who has named more than 100 species of eremophilas but because many species grow in rarely visited places, more remain to be named. So far, 221 species have been described but another 40 have been discovered but not yet described. The most recent additions to the list are
Eremophila buirchellii and
Eremophila calcicola which were formally described in 2016. The name
Eremophila is derived from the
Ancient Greek ἐρῆμος (erêmos) meaning "lonely" or "desert" and
φίλος (phílos) meaning “dear" or "beloved” alluding to the species' adaptation to arid environments. ''
Phylogenetic work A comprehensive molecular study was conducted in 2021 to shed light on both the relationships between
Eremophila species, and other species in the tribe Myoporeae. The study was conducted with 205 out of the 233 described (as of 2021) species of
Eremophila.
Caribbean species
Bontia daphnoides is nested within the genus ''Eremophila.
Species list See
List of Eremophila species Common names A significant number of eremophilas have the term
emu bush or
poverty bush as part of their common names, although sometimes two species have the same common name and sometimes one species has more than one common name. Of the approximately
270 species, the following have at least one common name: ; Emu bush :
E. alternifolia – narrow-leaved emu bush :
E. bignoniiflora – gooramurra, bignonia emu bush :
E. compacta – compact emu bush :
E. divaricata – spreading emu bush :
E. elderi – aromatic emu bush :
E. gilesii – Charleville turkey bush, green turkey bush, Giles emu bush :
E. glabra – common emu bush :
E. glutinosa – sticky emu bush :
E. hillii – Hill's emu bush :
E. lactea – milky emu bush :
E. maculata – spotted emu bush :
E. polyclada – twiggy emu bush :
E. scaberula – rough emu bush :
E. scoparia – silver emu bush, broom bush ; Poverty bush :
E. abietina – spotted poverty bush :
E. anomala – Paroo poverty bush :
E. attenuata – Connie Sue poverty bush :
E. aureivisca – Rason poverty bush :
E. battii – Batt's poverty bush :
E. bowmanii – Bowman's poverty bush :
E. campanulata – bell-flowered poverty bush :
E. ciliata – Archer's poverty bush :
E. denticulata – toothed poverty bush :
E. foliosissima – poverty bush :
E. granitica – granite poverty bush, thin-leaved poverty bush :
E. maitlandii – Shark Bay poverty bush :
E. malacoides – frontage poverty bush :
E. margarethae – sandbank poverty bush :
E. metallicorum – miners poverty bush :
E. micrantha – small-flowered poverty bush :
E. parvifolia – small-leaved poverty bush :
E. pterocarpa – wing-fruited eremophila, silver poverty bush :
E. spectabilis – showy poverty bush :
E. spinescens – spiny poverty bush ==Distribution and habitat==