''Eremophila mitchellii'', known commonly as false sandalwood and several other names, 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 t ...

in the figwort

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

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 else ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It is a

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

large shrub or small tree with flaky bark, white or cream-coloured flowers and is capable of root suckering. It is widespread and common in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

where it is sometimes a serious pest of

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and ot ...

land, however essential oils from the plant have been shown to have valuable properties and have been commercially exploited.

Description

''Eremophila mitchellii'' is a glabrous large shrub with a few main stems, or small tree which sometimes grows to a height of high although more regularly in the range . It has light grey bark which often flakes into small pieces, sometimes curling at the edges. The branches and leaves are glabrous and some parts are often sticky due to the presence of

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 nat ...

and the leaves are aromatic when crushed. The leaves are arranged alternately along the branches and are linear to lance-shaped, mostly long, wide, slightly sticky, have a distinct mid-vein on the lower surface and often have a hooked tip. The flowers are borne in groups of 2 or 3 in leaf axils on glabrous, sticky stalks long. There are 5 white to cream-coloured, sometimes pinkish

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 coine ...

s which are lance-shaped with a rounded end and mostly long. The

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

s are long and joined at their lower end to form a tube. The petal tube is usually white or cream-coloured, sometimes pale pink and has spots inside the tube. The petal tube is mostly glabrous except for the inside of the tube which is filled with long soft hairs. Two of the

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 fila ...

s are fully enclosed in the tube while the other two sometimes extend slightly past its end. Flowering mainly occurs mainly from September to November, sometimes earlier and is followed by fruits which are oval-shaped, usually long and have a crusty covering. Eremophila_mitchellii

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described in 1848 by the botanist

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

and the description was published in ''Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia''. 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, bo ...

(''mitchellii'') honours the explorer and surveyor, Thomas Mitchell. Other common names applied to this species include buddah, buddha, budtha, sandalwood, native sandalwood, false sandalwood, bastard sandalwood, sandalbox and rosewood balvory.

Distribution and habitat

False sandalwood is found to the west of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

and north of

Hillston Hillston is a township in western New South Wales, Australia, in Carrathool Shire, on the banks of the Lachlan River. It was founded in 1863 and at the had a population of 1,465. History John Oxley and his exploration party were the first Eu ...

in New South Wales and in eastern Queensland where it grows in a range of soils and is common in most types of

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 ...

Ecology

This species invades

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

land in New South Wales and Queensland and its cultivation is prohibited in

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 t ...

. The plant quickly regrows from roots remaining in the ground after clearing and rapidly invades from seeds.

Native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

scale insect Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than th ...

s from the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Pulvinaria'' (

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from to arou ...

Coccidae The Coccidae are a family of scale insects belonging to the superfamily Coccoidea. They are commonly known as soft scales, wax scales or tortoise scales. The females are flat with elongated oval bodies and a smooth integument which may be covere ...

) have been shown to be able to kill ''E. mitchellii'' but need to be physically applied to the plant.

Uses

Indigenous use

Aboriginal people used false sandalwood to treat

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including ar ...

and the smoke from burning the leaves for general medicinal purposes.

Essential oils

False sandalwood contains essential oils including bicyclic

sesquiterpene Sesquiterpenes are a class of terpenes that consist of three isoprene units and often have the molecular formula C15H24. Like monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes may be cyclic or contain rings, including many unique combinations. Biochemical modific ...

s known as eremophilanes. The oil is extracted by steam distillation and has been used as a mild

analgesic An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It ...

and as an

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

additive in toiletries. It is active against some

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a g ...

microorganisms A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

including ''

Staphylococcus aureus ''Staphylococcus aureus'' is a Gram-positive spherically shaped bacterium, a member of the Bacillota, and is a usual member of the microbiota of the body, frequently found in the upper respiratory tract and on the skin. It is often posit ...

'', '' Salmonella typhimurium'' and ''

Candida albicans ''Candida albicans'' is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast that is a common member of the human gut flora. It can also survive outside the human body. It is detected in the gastrointestinal tract and mouth in 40–60% of healthy adults. It is usu ...

'' when undiluted and against ''Salmonella'' at a concentration of 1%. The oil is also an effective termiticide which has been marketed as Termilone. A product known as "Buddha Wood Essential Oil" is also marketed.

Horticulture

''Eremophila mitchellii'' is not widely cultivated but may be suited for dry climates in full sun and well-drained soil.

Wood

The timber from false sandalwood is suited for

woodturning Woodturning is the craft of using a wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a simple mechanism that can generate a variety of forms. The operator ...

, although it is very hard, and it retains a pleasant scent for a long time, even after sealing. Its oil content allows it to be polished to a high gloss.

Uses

Joseph Maiden Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus '' Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citin ...

's 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records that "The leaves are eaten by stock. The seeds of several species are eaten by emus."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3056122 mitchellii Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1848 Taxa named by George Bentham