Hydrocotyle Explained

Hydrocotyle, also called floating pennywort,^[1] water pennywort,^[2] Indian pennywort, dollar weed, marsh penny, thick-leaved pennywort and white rot,^[3] is a genus of prostrate, perennial^[4] 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, and marshes,^[2] and some species in coastal areas by the sea.^[5] ^[6]

Leaves: Simple, with small leafy outgrowth at the base, kidney shaped to round. Leaf edges are scalloped. The leaf surfaces of Hydrocotyle are prime grounds for oviposition of many butterfly species, such as Anartia fatima.

The prostrate plants reproduce by seed and by sending roots from stem nodes.^[7]

Selected species

The genus Hydrocotyle has between 75 and 100 species^[8] that grow in tropical and temperate regions worldwide.^[4] A few species have entered the world of cultivated ornamental aquatics.^[9] A list of selected species:^[8] ^[10] ^[11] ^[12]

Hydrocotyle americana L. — American marshpennywort
Hydrocotyle asiatica L. is now correctly known as Centella asiatica
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 hirta
Hydrocotyle hitchcockii
Hydrocotyle hookeri
Hydrocotyle hydrophila - endemic to New Zealand^[13]
Hydrocotyle javanica Thunb.
Hydrocotyle keelungensis Liu, Chao & Chuang
Hydrocotyle laxiflora DC.
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 phoenix A.J. Perkins — fire pennywort
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. — marsh pennywort, common pennywort
Hydrocotyle wilfordii
Hydrocotyle wilsonii
Hydrocotyle yanghuangensis

Distribution

Hydrocotyleae grow in wet and damp places in the tropics and the temperate zones.^[4]

Fossil record

One fossil fruit of a Hydrocotyle sp. has been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland.^[14]

External links

- Book: Lamarck , Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de . Jean-Baptiste Lamarck . Poiret, Jean Louis Marie . Jean Louis Marie Poiret . Encyclopédie méthodique: botanique /Par m. le chevalier de Lamarck. . Vol. 3 . 1783–1808 . QK7.L36 1783-1808 . HYD . http://www.botanicus.org/bibliography/b11774435 .

Notes and References

Web site: Floating pennywort . Invasive Species . 2021 . 17 May 2022 .
Web site: Hydrocotyle species . 2008-04-25 . University of Florida Herbarium . University of Florida Herbarium . 2005 . Aquatic, Wetland and Invasive Plant Particulars and Photographs . University of Florida, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080420150410/http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/hydrpic.html . 2008-04-20 .
Web site: Hydrocotyle Linn. . 2008-04-25 . Flora of China . Flora of North America . Family List .
Web site: Hydrocotyle bonariensis Lam. [family UMBELLIFERAE] ]. https://archive.today/20130801230334/http://www.aluka.org/action/showCompilationPage?doi=10.5555/AL.AP.COMPILATION.PLANT-NAME-SPECIES.HYDROCOTYLE.BONARIENSIS . dead . August 1, 2013 . 2008-04-25 . Aluka . Aluka . African Plants . Ithaka Harbors, Inc.
Klein . Alecsandro Schardosim . Citadini-Zanette . Vanilde . dos Santos . Robson . Florística e estrutura comunitária de restinga herbácea no município de Araranguá, Santa Catarina . Biotemas . 20 . 3 . 15–26 . September 2007 . pt .
Web site: Hydrocotyle L . 2008-04-25 . Watson . Mark F. . Flora of Bhutan.
1. Hydrocotyle Linnaeus . 2008-04-25 . Flora of China . Flora of North America . 14 . Family List .
Web site: Pennywort, Genus Hydrocotyle . 2008-04-25 . The Aquarium Gardener Series.
Hydrocotyle Linn . 2008-04-25 . Taiwan Plant Names . Flora of North America . III . Family List .
Web site: Hydrocotyle L. . 2008-04-25 . Madagascar Catalog . Flora of North America . Genus Page .
Web site: hydrocotyle . 2008-04-25 . New Zealand Weeds . Massey University
Institute of Natural Resources
. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081014033635/http://weeds.massey.ac.nz/weeds.asp?pid=99&sf=common . 2008-10-14 .
Web site: Hydrocotyle hydrophila New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. nzpcn.org.nz. 2017-11-03.
Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3-117.