Hydrocotyle

Description

Water pennyworts, Hydrocotyles, are very common. They have long creeping stems that often form dense mats, often in and near ponds, lakes, rivers, marshes and some species in coastal areas by the sea.

Leaves

Simple, with small leafy outgrowth at the base, kidney shaped to round. Leaf edges are scalloped.

Flowers

Flower clusters are simple and flat-topped or rounded. Involucral bracts Inconspicuous bracts at the base of each flower. Indistinct sepals.

Fruits and reproduction

Elliptical to round with thin ridges and no oil tubes (vitta) which is characteristic in the fruit of umbelliferous plants.The prostrate plants reproduce by seed and by sending roots from stem nodes.

Selected species

The Hydrocotyle genus has between 75 and 100 species. that grow in tropical and temperate regions worldwide A few species have entered the world of cultivated ornamental aquatics. A list of selected species:

Hydrocotyle americana L. — American marshpennywort

Hydrocotyle batrachium Hance

Hydrocotyle benguetensis Elm.

Hydrocotyle bonariensis Lam. — largeleaf pennywort

Hydrocotyle bowlesioides Mathias & Constance — largeleaf marshpennywort

Hydrocotyle calcicola

Hydrocotyle dichondroides Makino

Hydrocotyle dielsiana

Hydrocotyle heteromeria — waxweed

Hydrocotyle hexagona

Hydrocotyle himalaica

Hydrocotyle hirsuta Sw. — yerba de clavo

Hydrocotyle hitchcockii

Hydrocotyle hookeri

Hydrocotyle javanica Thunb.

Hydrocotyle keelungensis Liu, Chao & Chuang

Hydrocotyle leucocephala Cham. & Schltdl. — Brazilian pennywort

Hydrocotyle mannii Hook.f.

Hydrocotyle microphylla A.Cunn.

Hydrocotyle moschata G. Forst. — musky marshpennywort

Hydrocotyle nepalensis Hook.

Hydrocotyle novae-zelandiae DC.

Hydrocotyle prolifera Kellogg — whorled marshpennywort

Hydrocotyle pseudoconferta

Hydrocotyle pusilla A. Rich. — tropical marshpennywort

Hydrocotyle ramiflora

Hydrocotyle ranunculoides L. f. — floating marshpennywort, floating marshpennywort, floating pennyroyal

Hydrocotyle salwinica

Hydrocotyle setulosa Hayata

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides Lam. — lawn marshpennywort

Hydrocotyle tambalomaensis

Hydrocotyle tripartita

Hydrocotyle umbellata L. — manyflower marshpennywort, umbrella pennyroyal

Hydrocotyle verticillata Thunb. — whorled marshpennywort, whorled marshpennywort, whorled pennyroyal

Hydrocotyle vulgaris L.

Hydrocotyle wilfordii

Hydrocotyle wilsonii

Hydrocotyle yanghuangensis

Distribution

Hydrocotyleae grow in wet and damp places in the tropics and the temperate zones.