Brazilian pennywort

Description

Plant species which is Hydrocotyle leucocephala. This was first described by Adelbert von Chamisso and Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal. Hydrocotyle leucocephala belongs to the genus Hydrocotyle, and family Apiaceae. Hydrocotyle, sometimes called water pennywort, Indian pennywort, dollar weed, 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. 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. 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. Flower clusters are simple and flat-topped or rounded. Involucral bracts Inconspicuous bracts at the base of each flower. Indistinct sepals. 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.