Hydrocotyle bonariensis
Family: Apiaceae
Plant Description: Perennial to 35 cm high with creeping stems, rooting at the nodes and forming mats. Leaves peltate, roundish, or broader than long, usually 3-8 cm wide, alternate. Flowers in compound umbels, petioles attached to the center of the leaf. Petals 1-1.5 mm long, whitish to pale yellow.
Field Identification: This plant is easily identified by its habit and its habitat. It propagates by rooting at nodes just below the ground surface. it is a plat with circular leaves with a petiole attached at the leaf center. Flowers inflorescent is an umbel. it is low growing and found in moist sands.
Plant Trivia: Spanish refers to the leaf meaning “little hat.”
Occurrence: Common on coastal sands in swales, depressions, marshes, and other moist areas.
Bloom Period: Mar-Nov
Plant Use: Attractive ground cover and common in low coastal regions. It is aggressive.
Key to the Genus Hydrocotyle:
- Flowers in a simple umbel…………………………………….H. umbellata
Flowers in a compound umbel or an interrupted spike……….2
2. Inflorescence a compound umbel……………………..H. bonariensis
Inflorescence a simple or branched spike………….H. verticillata
