TankBud

Hydrocotyle mini

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides

Also known as Lawn pennywort, Lawn marshpennywort, Dwarf pennywort

FreshwaterCarpetingRunnersCuttings

Hydrocotyle mini (Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides)
Aquarium Plants Factory · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Light
High light
CO2
CO₂ required
Temperature
59–82°F
15–28°C
Max height
2 in
5 cm
Growth rate
Fast
Placement
Foreground
Type
Carpeting
pH
5.0–7.5
Hardness
2–14 dGH
Spread
7.9 in (20 cm)
Nutrient uptake
Root + water column
Growth region
Submersed or emersed
Difficulty
Medium
Family
Araliaceae
Origin
Tropical to warm-temperate Asia and tropical Africa

Overview

A denser, finer-leaved carpet than the popular Hydrocotyle Japan, but a step fussier: it wants strong light to stay low, and CO2 plus regular water-column dosing to grow compact and green rather than leggy. In low light with no CO2 it tends to decay rather than thrive. Left to itself it runs fast and piles up, so trim and press the mat down often. It can be planted as a foreground carpet, tied to hardscape, or grown emersed.

In the wild

A small creeping pennywort from tropical and warm-temperate Asia and tropical Africa, growing in damp lawns, ditches and the margins of shallow water. It spreads by thin runners that root at the nodes, throwing up tiny clover-like leaves only a centimetre or two across.

Good to know

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides Lamarck sits in the family Araliaceae alongside the other aquarium pennyworts (it was long placed in Apiaceae). The species name honours the botanist John Sibthorp. The rounded, shallowly lobed leaves are what set it apart from the three-lobed H. tripartita often grown beside it.

Did you know

Did you know this plant is used in traditional East Asian herbal medicine, where the whole herb is known as tian hu sui, long before it ever entered the aquascaping hobby.

Related plants