Common name: Poison Lobelia
Lobelia pratioides Benth. APNI*
Description: Procumbent to weakly ascending herb; stems usually with spreading hairs, sometimes zig-zagged, rooting at the nodes.
Leaves narrowly elliptical to narrowly ovate; lamina to 3.5 cm long, 1–6(-12) mm wide, narrowing at the base to an indistinct petiole, margins with 3–5 small teeth on each side; apex bluntly acute with a thickened tip.
Flowers solitary in axils of leaves; pedicels to 5 cm long; calyx lobes 1.5–3 mm long; corolla usually 0.5–1.1 cm long, blue to pale violet, slit between the upper two lobes; male and bisexual flowers with bristles and penicillate hairs on the lower 2 anthers and a short tuft of hairs on the upper 3.
Capsule obovoid, c. 3–5 mm long.
Distribution and occurrence: Recorded once for the SWP; south from Deniliquin. Also Vic, Tas. and S.A. Swampy depressions.
NSW subdivisions: NWP, SWP
Other Australian states: Vic. S.A. Tas.
Text by Peter G. Wilson (May 2010) Taxon concept: D.E. Albrecht, Flora of Victoria 4: 576 (1999).
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data ***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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