FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Flowering stalks hairy and much shorter than leaf petioles.
Synonym(s): Centella asiatica, Centella repanda
Description: Low-growing, creeping, perennial herb, clusters of leaves arising from nodes.
Leaves: Somewhat heart-shaped, basal leaves have long petioles of variable lengths, to 30 cm. Margins generally dentate, but variable between leaves or plants. Leaves and flower stalks usually hairy.
Flowers/Fruit: Tiny, 5-petaled, white flowers in umbels, on short stalks emerging from base. Fruits are tiny, green, and disk-shaped. Blooms June to August; fruits July to September.
Habit and Range: Found in sunny pond, lake, and stream edges, ditches, wet grasslands, and a wide variety of other moist to wet habitats in the Coastal Plain.
Taxonomic Note: The synonym of Centella asiatica is misapplied; our plants are now understood to be a related species native to North America.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Centella erecta (erect centella) can be confused with Hydrocotyle umbellata (marsh pennywort) which has petioles attached at the center of disk-shaped leaves.
Click here to view Hydrocotyle umbellata.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
