Hydrocotyle

Hydrocotyle sometimes called water pennywort, Indian Pennywort, Marsh Penny, Thick-leaved Pennywort and even White Rot is a genus of prostrate, perennial aquatic or semi-aquatic plants formerly classified in the family Apiaceae, now in the family Araliaceae.

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 and a few species have made it into 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 himalaica
• Hydrocotyle hirsuta Sw. -- yerba de clavo
• 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 tripartita
• Hydrocotyle umbellata L. -- manyflower marshpennywort, umbrella pennyroyal
• Hydrocotyle verticillata Thunb. -- whorled marshpennywort, whorled marshpennywort, whorled pennyroyal
• Hydrocotyle vulgaris L.
• Hydrocotyle wilfordii
• Hydrocotyle wilsonii

Distribution

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

References

External links

• Lamarck, Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de; Poiret, Jean Louis Marie Encyclopédie méthodique: botanique /Par m. le chevalier de Lamarck.. QK7.L36 1783-1808.