Pratia Gaudich.
Annual or perennial, dioecious herbs, often prostrate, with slender, creeping stems rooting at nodes, sometimes erect, robust, and somewhat woody. Lvs usually toothed; sap often acrid, somewhat milky. Fls solitary or in racemes. Calyx tube adnate to ovary; lobes persistent. Corolla 2-lipped; tube split to base at back; limb with upper lip 2-lobed and lower lip 3-lobed; lobes equal or unequal and those of upper lip often smaller. ♂ fls with staminal tube mostly free from corolla; anthers connate around style, the lower pair shortly awned. ♀ fls with staminodes; ovary 2-celled; stigma 2-lobed. Fr. always ± succulent, usually a berry, sometimes eventually dehiscent; seeds numerous, small.
Key
c. 25 spp., mostly Australasia, also tropical Asia, tropical Africa and S. America. Native spp. 5, naturalised 1.
Descriptions of the indigenous N.Z. spp. are modified from Allan (1961). There is a need for further studies of these spp., particularly the P. angulata complex, including P. arenaria.
