Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 17 (1753).

Derivation: Latin Gratia Dei, favour of God, or Gratiola had long before the 17th Century been applied to the common European species G. officinalis L. because of its medicinal properties.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Brooklimes.

Description:
Perennial herbs, minutely but sometimes obscurely gland-dotted; leaves opposite, simple, 3-veined at the base.

Flowers single rarely 2 in leaf axils, sometimes forming terminal leafy racemes or spikes; bracteoles 2, borne on the pedicel just below the calyx; sepals 5, free; corolla with a broad, almost cylindrical, distally upturned tube, the limb more or less forward directed, obscurely 2-lipped, the upper lip broad, 2-lobed, the lower 3-lobed; stamens 2, included, the anthers adjacent with 2 parallel distinct cells, the lower stamens reduced to 2 slender staminodes or ?absent; stigma perpendicular to the style, comprising 2 flaps.

Capsule 4-valved, dehiscing both septicidally and loculicidally, leaving a central column with some of the septum attached; seeds numerous, striate-reticulate.

Distribution:  About 20 species in the north and south temperate zones; in Australia at least 5 poorly distinguished taxa, 4 in S.Aust. treated here as species. A study of all Australian specimens and variation in sympatric populations and under different seasonal conditions is needed, ideally in the context of a world revision, to establish if these taxa are truly species.

Biology: The sessile glands, in dried material most noticeable on the leaves, bracteoles and sepals, occur at the base of tiny hollows; they are obscure in some taxa, but in others produce conspicuous golden globules. It is not clear whether the tiny hairs occurring in varying abundance in the inflorescence of most species are deciduously gland-tipped.

Key to Species:

1. Pedicels 8-26 mm long; sessile glands with globular heads conspicuous on the leaves, bracteoles and sepals; branches, pedicels, bracteoles and sepals densely glandular-puberulent	G. pedunculata 1.
1. Pedicels 0-7 rarely 12 mm long
2. Sessile glands with conspicuous globular heads on the leaves, bracteoles and sepals; sepals and bracteoles densely ?glandular- puberulent; pedicels 1-2.5 mm long	G. pubescens 3.
2. Sessile glands obscure, evident as hollows on the leaves, bracteoles and sepals; sepals and bracteoles sparsely eglandular-pubescent and/or ?glandular-puberulent to glabrous; pedicels 0.5-8 rarely 12 mm long
3. Mature seed 0.6-0.8 mm long, with brown ridges; corolla pale-pink, white in parts; style (on capsule) 2.8-3.5 mm long	G. peruviana 2.
3. Mature seed 0.4-0.7 mm long, with white ridges; corolla white; style (on capsule) 1.5-1.8 mm long	G. pumilo 4.

Author: Not yet available