Family: Araliaceae
Hydrocotyle muscosa
Citation:
R. Br. ex A. Rich., Ann. Gén. Sci. Phys. 4:208, t. 61, fig. 27 (1820).
Synonymy: H. tripartita R. Br. ex A. Rich. var. muscosa (R. Br. ex A. Rich.)Benth., Fl. Aust. 3:341 (1867).
Common name: Mossy pennywort.
Description:
Small procumbent perennial herb with long thin underground stolons, sometimes forming dense mats; stem filiform, creeping for long distances and rooting at the nodes or ascending, to 20 cm high; leaf blade round in outline, 3-16 mm diam., digitately divided to the base into 5 (rarely 4) segments, usually with scattered long hairs especially on the lower surface; segments narrow-cuneate, entire or 3-toothed towards the apex, occasionally with 1 much smaller tooth immediately below the 2 lateral teeth, the central leaflet sometimes longer and broader than the 4 lateral leaflets; petiole of basal leaves 3-5 times as long as the blade, glabrous or rarely sparsely hairy, but usually with several long hairs at the base of the blade; stipules membranous, very small, broad-oblong, obtuse, entire, light-brown.
Fruits to c. 1.5 mm long, c. 2 mm broad; carpophore absent; mericarps with dorsal and intermediate ribs prominent, filiform.
Distribution:
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In fresh-water swamps and other wet places, e.g., along streams.
S.Aust.: SL, KI, SE. Vic.; Tas. New Guinea.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: Sept. — March.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Author:
Not yet available
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