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Salt Pratia

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Salt Pratia photos

Scientific Name:Lobelia irrigua (syn. Pratia platycalyx)
Salt Pratia
Salt Pratia - plant
Photo: A J Brown


Other Common Name:


Fleshy Pratia


Status:


Native to South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.


Plant Description:


Small, thick and shiny leaved, creeping herb with zig-zag stems that root at the nodes. Leaves are linear to ovate or almost round, 2-40 mm long and 1-8 mm wide and sometimes toothed on the margins. Small, 5-petalled, star-like flowers are 1.8-4.5 mm long, white or mauve-tinged on the back of the lobes and tube; the corolla lobes slightly offset from being evenly distributed around the centre. Fruit is ovoid to ellipsoid, containing light brown seed, 0.7-0.9 mm long. Flowering from spring to autumn.


Habitat:


Occurs on heavy, damp soils in coastal and inland saltmarsh and slightly brackish to subsaline wetlands and grasslands and along watercourses.

RegionSalinity ClassWaterlogging Class
Western, GippslandS1, S2W2, W3


Comments:


A number of other Lobelia species (e.g. L. concolor – Poison Pratia and L. pedunculataMatted Pratia) grow on wet, muddy sites in Victoria but do not usually encroach on saline environments.

Salt Pratia Photos

Salt Pratia - flowers
Salt Pratia - flowers
Photo: A J Brown
Salt Pratia - leaves
Salt Pratia - leaves
Photo: A J Brown
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