Floating Pennywort - Hydrocotyle ranunculoides

Description

A mainly aquatic plant with broadly circular leaves. It has horizontal stems that form roots at the nodes and basal leaves that develop directly from these stems. It is about 4 to12 inches tall.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Still and slow moving water.

When to see it

Peak time is summer and autumn.

Life History

This perennial plant is an introduction from North America, it is thought to have found its way into our waterways from emptied aquarium contents.

UK Status

The BSBI distribution maps show it was unrecorded in the British Isles before 1986 but has swiftly spread into most of England.

VC55 Status

It can become troublesome in those parts of Leicestershire and Rutland where it is present, but, being a recent colonist it was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Floating Pennywort
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Apiales
Family:
Araliaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
43
First record:
11/10/2011 (Nicholls, David)
Last record:
16/02/2024 (Burton, Roseanna)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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