Hydrocotyle verticillata

Whorled marsh pennywort

Family: Araliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Whorled marsh pennywort is a California native perennial found in southern North Coast Ranges, northern and central Sierra Nevada, southern Sierra Nevada foothills, Great Valley, Central Western, Southwestern, White and Inyo Mountains, and Desert regions in lake margins, ponds, slow-moving streams, canals, seeps, springs, and marshes at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from April to September, this plant produces small white to greenish flowers in whorled spikes up to 15 flowers long. Growing as a creeping plant with slender stems, it spreads horizontally across wet surfaces. Its distinctive round, peltate leaves are 1 to 4 centimeters wide, deeply lobed with 8 to 13 nearly equal crenate margins, creating a delicate, umbrella-like appearance. The tiny fruits are elliptic, 1 to 3 millimeters long with acute ribs.

Habitat: Lake margins, ponds, slow-moving streams, canals, seeps, springs, marshes

Bloom period: Apr-Sep

Elevation: < 1400 m

Bioregions: s NCoRO, n&ampc SN, s SNF, GV, CW (exc SCoRI), SW (exc ChI, SnJt), W&ampI, D

California counties: Kern, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Ventura, Marin, Tulare, Inyo, Monterey, San Joaquin, Butte, Contra Costa, Solano, Sonoma, Merced, Madera, San Francisco, Kings, San Luis Obispo, Plumas, San Mateo, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Fresno, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Imperial, Sacramento

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.