Common name: Hairy Pennywort
Hydrocotyle hirta A.Rich. ex R.Br. APNI* Description: Perennial herb, often loosely mat-forming, stems prostrate (rarely ascending), hairy.
Leaves orbicular-cordate to reniform, 6–25 (-50) mm across, shallowly or deeply (5-) 7-lobed; lobes obtuse, crenate-dentate; petiole 0.8–5 (-15) cm long, usually quite hairy and appearing white; stipules membranous, entire, red-dotted, ciliate or fringed.
Umbels simple, leaf opposed, 3–5 mm diameter, c. 15–40 flowered; peduncle c. 6 cm long, flowers sessile or subsessile (pedicels to c. 0.5 mm long). Petals pale yellow, often red dotted, as wide as ovary at anthesis.
Fruit 1–1.5 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, strongly flattened, often irregularly red-dotted; mericarps with prominent dorsal rib and filiform intermediate ribs, area between them convex.
Flowering: Flowers late summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Common and widespread in a wide range of habitats from open woodlands to dense Nothofagus closed forests, usually in moist shaded sites.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, SC, LHI
Other Australian states: Vic. Tas. S.A. W.A.
A variable species in need of detailed study to determine if any of the leaf forms require formal recognition. Formerly in Apiaceae.
Text by M.F. Duretto
Taxon concept: Flora of Victoria Volume 4, 1999
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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