Plants of
South Australia
Lobelia concolor
Campanulaceae
Milky Lobelia,
Poison Pratia,
Milky Pratia
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Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
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Oodnadatta
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Wudinna
Keith
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock paintings: 4

Prior names

Pratia concolor

Pratia erecta

Common names

Milky Lobelia

Poison Pratia

Milky Pratia

Etymology

Lobelia, named after Mathias de Lobel (1538-1616), physician to William of Orange and then botanist to James I of England. Concolor, means same colour, referring to above and below the leaves.

Distribution and status

Found along the Murray River and around Bordertown in South Australia, growing on heavy soil in moist depressions or sometimes associated with irrigated pastures. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Rare in South Australia. Common in the other States.
Herbarium regions: Northern Lofty, Murray, Southern Lofty, South Eastern
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Prostrate and somewhat succulent herb with rhizomes, roots thick and fleshy;, branches smooth often zig-zagged from leaf to leaf. Leaves sessile or almost so; oblong-lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, to 30 mm long and 15 mm wide; obtuse or acute with widely spaced teeth or serrations, each somewhat thickened, glabrous. Flowers, single in the axils of leaf-like bracts towards the apex of branches, with white or pink-tinged, purple flowers. Flowering between January and April. Fruits are brown ellipsoid to globose capsule to 8 mm long. Seed embryo type is linear, under-developed.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between April and June. Collect mature capsules that are fat, turning a pale straw-colour and containing brown seeds. Can be time consuming to find mature capsules. Can collect individual capsules or break off whole stem. Place the capsules in a tray and leave to dry for one week. Rub the capsules gently by hand to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Be careful as the seeds are very small. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place From one collection, the seed viability was high, at 100%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA670 (0.06 g)100+9-May-2007DJD788
South Eastern
1-Aug-2007100%-18°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.