The following is an extract from an article on the ABC Website concerning the research that has been going on with Eremophilas. These are hardy plants, with attractive flowers which are loved by Honeyeaters.

More on Eremophilas can be seen here. Also see the category Eremophilas.

Australian native plants are being used to develop new antibacterial agents for coating biomedical implants (Source: Hans Griesser)

An extract from a flowering desert plant, used as traditional medicine by Indigenous Australians, could one day be used to coat hip transplants and other biomedical devices, say researchers.

Professor Hans Griesser and colleagues are presenting their work this week at a biomaterials conference at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

“We can learn so much from nature and traditional knowledge,” says Griesser, a materials scientist from the University of South Australia.

He says Aboriginal people use leaves of Eremophila plants, which grow in Australia’s desert areas, to make ointments for skin abrasions and gargles for throat infections.

More of the article can be read here.