''Eremophila fraseri'', commonly known as burra or jilarnu, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the figwort

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 only 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 foun ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It is a shrub or small tree with all above-ground parts of the plant, apart from the petals, sticky and shiny due to the presence of a large amount of

resin A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...

. The petals are coloured white, cream, pink and brown.

Description

''Eremophila fraseri'' is an erect shrub or small tree, usually growing to a height of between . The branches, leaves,

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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s and flower stalks are

glabrous Glabrousness () 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 a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

and thickly covered with

making them very sticky and shiny. The leaves vary in size and shape, depending on subspecies, from lance-shaped to egg-shaped. They have a stalk mostly long and a leaf blade mostly long and wide. The flowers are usually borne singly in leaf axils on a stalk, long. There are 5 reddish-purple sepals which differ from each other in size and shape. The largest sepal is long and is egg-shaped while the smallest ones are long and are narrow egg-shaped to lance-shaped. The

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s are mostly long and are joined at their lower end to form a tube. The petal tube is brown and the petal lobes on its end are whitish to pale lilac often spotted brown or purple. The inside and outside of the petal tube are hairy, especially the inside of the tube and the petal lobes on the sides are bent back over the petal tube. The 4 stamens extend beyond the end of the petal tube. Flowering occurs from March to November and is followed by fruits which are dry, sticky, oval shaped with a pointed end and long.

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described in 1881 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

and the description was published in ''

Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae ''Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' is a series of papers written by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. Including the p ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''fraseri'') honours Sir Malcolm Fraser, the Surveyor-General of Western Australia from 1872 to 1883. In 2007,

Robert Chinnock Robert James (Bob) Chinnock (born 3 July 1943) is a New Zealand-born Australian botanist who worked at the State Herbarium of South Australia as a senior biologist. He retired in 2008 but still works as an honorary research associate. His resear ...

described two subspecies and the names are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Sys ...

: *''Eremophila fraseri''

F.Muell. Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria (state), Vic ...

subsp. ''fraseri'' which has egg-shaped leaves that are mostly wider than ; *''Eremophila fraseri'' subsp. ''parva'' Chinnock which has oblong to elliptic leaves that are mostly narrower than .

Distribution and habitat

''Eremophila fraseri'' subspecies ''fraseri'' grows in a wide range of habitats and different soil types between the

Hamersley Range The Hamersley Range is a mountainous region of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The range was named on 12 June 1861 by explorer Francis Thomas Gregory after Edward Hamersley, a prominent promoter of his exploration expedition to the ...

and Gascoyne Junction in the Carnarvon,

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gascoyne has about of ...

, Murchison,

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

and Yalgoo biogeographic regions. Subspecies ''parva'' occurs in scattered locations in the Meekatharra and

regions where it usually grows in stony or sandy clay loam.

Uses

Indigenous uses

Burra is used as a

topical medication A topical medication is a medication that is applied to a particular place on or in the body. Most often topical medication means application to body surface area, body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes to treat ailments via a large ...

, the liquid derived from a preparation of the leaves is used for skin complaints. It is called Jilarnu in the Yindjibarndi and Ngarluma languages and it is collected from a place called Millstream.

Use in horticulture

This is one eremophila that does not make as valuable a garden plant as many others. It tends to become woody and sometimes blackened by

sooty mould Sooty mold (also spelled sooty mould) is a collective term for different Ascomycete fungi, which includes many genera, commonly ''Cladosporium'' and ''Alternaria''. It grows on plants and their fruit, but also environmental objects, like fences, ...

. It is difficult to propagate except by cuttings and prefers a well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. It is drought tolerant and can withstand slight frost.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5385570 fraseri Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1878 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller