Heliotropium curassavicum (Spatulate-Leaved Heliotrope) - photos and description
Origin: Native.
General: Low, succulent plant having decumbent stems. Plant is glaucous and glabrous.
Flowers: Flowers grow in scorpioid spikes, are showy, white with a yellow eye, measured to 12 mm diameter.
Leaves: Leaves are alternate, spatulate; the leaf highlighted in the photo above was 5 cm long (including petiole) and 16 mm wide.
Height: Budd's Flora lists the height to 30 cm, we measured plants to 22 cm tall.
Habitat: Saline soil on slough margins and lakeshores in south west Saskatchewan.
Abundance: Listed as uncommon in Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Saskatchewan.
When and where photographed: Photos taken July 6th and 10th, shore of a saline lake about 100 km west of Regina, SK, and June 16th and July 20th on the shore of a saline lake about 200 km west of our home in Regina, SK