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Hydrocotyle leucocephala; photograph (c) Andrea Gantzer, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Andrea Gantzer, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2024-12-30

Hydrocotyle leucocephala Cham. & Schltdl.

Brazilian pennywort

Araliaceae · Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +21

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Hydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedHydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedHydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedHydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph (c) Nicolas Olejnik, some rights reserved (CC BY)Hydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph (c) Nicolas Olejnik, some rights reserved (CC BY)Hydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph (c) Rocío Esmeralda Pose, some rights reserved (CC BY) 67 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
8.3°C
Record low 3.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Jan, Feb, Mar and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,937mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Hydrocotyle

Hydrocotyle, also called floating pennywort, water pennywort, dollar weed, marsh penny, thick-leaved pennywort and white rot, is a genus of prostrate, perennial aquatic or semi-aquatic plants formerly classified in the family Apiaceae, now in the family Araliaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Hydrocotyle", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,391 mm of 1,881 mm) takes 8 months, September to February and April to May. Mean temperature moves 6.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: March to August and October to November.

Rain

1,881 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,391 mm of it September to February and April to May. Wettest month October at 193 mm, driest month August at 96 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,350 mm to 4,122 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,937 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,881 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 8.3 °C, the absolute minimum 3.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 13.3 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 9.2 °C to 20.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.4 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 8.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -47 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Hydrocotyle leucocephala through the yearWarmest months January, February, March and December, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 13.3 °C; 1,881 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°33.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER3.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 19–36RH 62–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 295 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 22–3227 / 23–3127 / 24–3026 / 22–2823 / 20–2721 / 18–2621 / 18–2623 / 19–2624 / 20–2725 / 21–2826 / 22–2927 / 22–31
Night °C20 / 15–2320 / 15–2320 / 15–2218 / 14–2115 / 12–2114 / 10–2113 / 9–2014 / 10–2016 / 12–2018 / 14–2019 / 15–2120 / 15–22
Rain mm184 / 112–343163 / 105–284149 / 94–282168 / 91–285154 / 85–404131 / 53–432114 / 43–43496 / 40–456154 / 71–460193 / 119–484186 / 122–417189 / 120–368
DLI36 / 28–4336 / 31–3933 / 29–3726 / 24–3722 / 19–3119 / 16–3021 / 18–3026 / 22–3329 / 24–3333 / 24–3636 / 23–4136 / 25–44
RH %64 / 58–7264 / 60–7064 / 60–7064 / 61–7065 / 61–7364 / 62–7663 / 60–7562 / 58–7563 / 58–7564 / 59–7664 / 58–7664 / 58–73
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 295 grid cells holding the 487 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2325:2622 (-26.275, -48.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 295 distinct grid cells holding 487 of the 487 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2325:2622 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -26.50_-48.750, lapse-corrected -47 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 22 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Paraguay, Uruguay, Tristan da Cunha · introduced: Réunion · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-25.88, -54.41 · in the densest population, 458 records (45% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1016 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 487 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 711 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 27 km away. 115 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 529 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1016 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Hydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph 1did not loadHydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph 2did not loadHydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph 3did not loadHydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph 4did not loadHydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph 5did not loadHydrocotyle leucocephala, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Nicolas Olejnik, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Rocío Esmeralda Pose, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Peperomia urocarpa Peperomia urocarpa Brazilian peperomia Photo: CC BY, avocatAcianthera aphthosa Acianthera aphthosa Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, bruno_san1409Euterpe edulis Euterpe edulis Assai palm Photo: CC BY-SA, UNA EcoturismoPhilodendron bipinnatifidum Philodendron bipinnatifidum Araceae Photo: CC BY, Paulo C. O. CunhaPiper cernuum Piper cernuum Piperaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens RiellaStemodia verticillata Stemodia verticillata Whorled twintip Photo: CC BY, Rafaela Vargas

Other Hydrocotyle 19 in the reference

Hydrocotyle acutiloba Hydrocotyle acutiloba Broad-leaf pennywort Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg TasneyHydrocotyle americana Hydrocotyle americana American marsh-pennywort Photo: CC BY, Tom ScavoHydrocotyle bonariensis Hydrocotyle bonariensis Largeleaf pennywort Photo: CC BY, Felipe HortonHydrocotyle bonplandii Hydrocotyle bonplandii Araliaceae Photo: CC BY, Esteban PovedaHydrocotyle heteromeria Hydrocotyle heteromeria Waxweed Photo: CC BY, Tom BeardHydrocotyle hirta Hydrocotyle hirta Hairy Pennywort Photo: CC BY, Carl RamirezHydrocotyle javanica Hydrocotyle javanica Nepalese pennywort Photo: CC0, author not statedHydrocotyle laxiflora Hydrocotyle laxiflora Araliaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg TasneyHydrocotyle mexicana Hydrocotyle mexicana Araliaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezHydrocotyle moschata Hydrocotyle moschata Hairy Pennywort Photo: CC BY, Tom BeardHydrocotyle novae-zeelandiae Hydrocotyle novae-zeelandiae New Zealand Pennywort Photo: CC BY, Irisa HudsonHydrocotyle pedicellosa Hydrocotyle pedicellosa Large pennywort Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg Tasney all 20 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Hydrocotyle dux; Hydrocotyle emarginata; Hydrocotyle hazenii; Hydrocotyle larranagii; Hydrocotyle leucocephala f. nervis and 10 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Araliaceae
Described by
Cham. & Schltdl.
Native to
Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast +20
Wild records
1016 in range · 711 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 64 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (47 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 7 at a herbarium, 10 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -26.50_-48.750, lapse-corrected -47 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 128 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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