Hydrocotyle bonariensis

Hydrocotyle bonariensis, the largeleaf pennywort, once a member of the family Apiaceae, now in the family Araliaceae and of the genus Hydrocotyle, is a hairless and creeping perennial.

Description

 * Flowers: This plant has numerous white to creamy-yellow flowers, and the flower stalks can be 30 cm in height.
 * Fruits and reproduction: The stems creep and root at the nodes; the plant spreads by rhizomes. Dollar Weed produces a dry dehiscent fruit that, at maturity, splits into two or more parts each with a single seed.
 * Habitat: This plant lives in sandy areas of somewhat extreme conditions: very dry lands that are flooded sometimes.
 * Community species:
 * Ipomoea pes-caprae
 * Senecio crassiflorus
 * Juncus acutus


 * Co-dominate species:
 * Imperata brasiliensis
 * Bacopa monnieri

Distribution
This species colonizes sandy ground and disturbed foreshore sites, estuaries, coastline, sand dunes and ponds. H. bonariensis has also displayed a tendency to prefer, and be stronger at, higher elevations.
 * Native
 * Afrotropic:
 * West-Central Tropical Africa: Cameroon
 * West Tropical Africa: Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal
 * South Tropical Africa: Angola, Mozambique
 * Southern Africa: South Africa
 * Western Indian Ocean: Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion
 * Nearctic:
 * Southeastern United States: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina
 * South-Central United States: Texas
 * Neotropic:
 * Central America: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama
 * Caribbean: Cuba, Puerto Rico
 * Northern South America: Venezuela
 * Brazil: Brazil
 * Western South America: Bolivia, Colombia, Peru
 * Southern South America: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

Neighbors

 * Colombian communities: In a remote sensing project for rapid ecological evaluation, H. bonariensis was found in Colombia inhabiting several of the evaluated areas; the last two communities are considered exceptional for the diversity.