Whorled pennywort
Hydrocotyle verticillata
Also known as Whorled marsh-pennywort, Shield pennywort, Umbrella pennywort
Care at a glance
- Light
- High light
- CO2
- CO₂ required
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Placement
- Foreground
- Type
- Carpeting
- Temperature
- 64–81°F (18–27°C)
- pH
- 5.0–7.5
- Hardness
- 0–15 dGH
- Max height
- 3.9 in (10 cm)
- Spread
- 5.9 in (15 cm)
- Nutrient uptake
- Root + water column
- Growth region
- Submersed or emersed
- Difficulty
- Difficult
- Origin
- Warmer regions of the Americas, from North and Central America through the Caribbean to South America
- Family
- Araliaceae
Overview
Grows well and quickly when emersed but is genuinely tricky submerged, where it turns slow and needs bright light and CO2 to stay compact. Under strong light it creeps low and can form a carpet, while in weaker light it grows leggy and tall. Spread by runners along the substrate and trim often to keep it flat and dense in the foreground or midground.
In the wild
A marsh and wetland pennywort from the warmer Americas, growing in damp ground and shallow water. Its round, parasol-shaped leaves sit on individual stalks arranged in a whorl, spreading by creeping runners across the substrate.
Good to know
Placed in the family Araliaceae (formerly Apiaceae). It is told from Hydrocotyle leucocephala by its symmetric, slotless umbrella-shaped leaves. The species name verticillata refers to the whorled arrangement of the flowers and leaf stalks.
Did you know
The same plant looks completely different above and below water. Emersed it throws up tall umbrella-leaved stalks like a bog plant, but submerged under high light it hugs the substrate as a low creeping carpet.
Where to buy
Some links may not be the exact species or variety.
- Glass Aqua Aquascaping plants and planted tank supplies
- Buce Plant Aquatic plants and aquascaping supplies
- Aquarium Plants Factory Aquatic plants shipped from a California greenhouse
…or ask your local fish store.
Appears in
High-light plants · Foreground plants · Carpeting plants · Advanced plants
Growing Whorled pennywort?
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