Araliaceae
Hydrocotyle

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides Lam.

First published in Encycl. 3: 153 (1789)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Tropical & Subtropical Old World. It is a hydrosubshrub and grows primarily in the montane tropical biome.

Descriptions

Umbelliferae, J. F. M. Cannon. Flora Zambesiaca 4. 1978

Morphology General Habit
Delicate slender creeping herb, rooting at the nodes.
Morphology Stem
Stem filiform, whitish to brownish.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves on slender petioles of 3–40 mm. long, glabrous or with scattered flexuous hairs near the tip, solitary or 2–3 together.
Morphology Leaves Leaf lamina
Lamina reniform with a narrow basal sinus, crenately divided into 5–7 lobes the margins of which have rounded triangular teeth.
Morphology General Indumentum
Superior leaf surface glabrous, the inferior usually with scattered crisped hairs particularly noticeable on young leaves.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence a simple subcapitate umbel, much shorter than the subtending leaf. Peduncle slender, 2–9 mm. long. Umbel 3–8(10)-flowered, involucre of inconspicuous narrow lanceolate scarious bracts; rays minute to obsolete.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit 1·5 × 1·0 mm., greenish to yellowish-brown, broadly ellipsoid, laterally compressed; base broadly and shallowly cordate; apex deeply emarginate; stylopodium depressed to obsolete, styles short, stiff and divergent; ribs well developed.
[FZ]

Umbelliferae, J. F. M. Cannon. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:2. 1958

Morphology General Habit
A small creeping herb, nearly glabrous
Ecology
In moist upland grassland
[FWTA]

Umbelliferae, C.C. Townsend. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1989

Morphology General Habit
Slender creeping perennial rooting at the nodes with clusters of delicate rootlets, internodes ± 0.7–5 cm.; stem slender, terete or striate, greenish or brownish.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves not peltate, the lamina reniform or almost round, ± 4–20 mm. in diameter, (5–)7-lobed to ± halfway, glabrous on both surfaces or the lower surface ± pilose with long hairs, lobes bluntly to subacutely dentate, basal sinus narrow; petiole slender, 0.5–3 cm., glabrous or more commonly with long flexuose hairs in the upper half; stipules broadly ovate to oblong, brownish membranous and frequently with purplish streaks, ± 1–1.25 mm., often denticulate-lacerate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence an umbel of 2–7(–10) flowers (rarely as many as 7 fruit) up to 3 mm. across; peduncle short, glabrous or more rarely pilose, ± 2–16 mm. in fruit but sometimes ± obsolete and the fruit in an axillary cluster on the stem; involucre of 3–5, blunt, broadly ovate or oblong, very small, brownish-membranous, frequently denticulate bracts; pedicels very short; bracteoles oblong, obovate or absent in fewer-flowered forms.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Petals greenish, sometimes tinged with purple, elliptic to broadly obovate, ± 0.6–0.9 mm.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit laterally compressed, the mericarps quite plump when ripe, narrowed to the commissure, yellowish green, ± 1.1–1.8 × 0.9–1.2 mm., the ribs filiform, very narrow but clearly prominent; stylopodia very flat, ± obsolete; styles spreading, slender, ± 0.4–0.75 mm.
Figures
Fig. 1/1–3, p.11.
Habitat
Mostly in bogs and swamps, either in grassland or forests (e.g. of bamboo/Hagenia or Hypericum), also along wet paths and streamsides, gravelly lake-shores and flats; 1134–3900 m.
Distribution
widespread in the tropics of the Old World, including Africanaturalised also in N. & S. America K3 K4 T1 T2 T3 T6 T7 T8 U2 U3 U4
[FTEA]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/177226/19668133

Conservation
LC - least concern
[IUCN]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images