LX. UMBELLIFEILE. 
715 
Hydroeotyle.] 
Section II. Centella. — Leaves (except in H. asiatica) cuneate at the base nr narrow. 
Petals imbricate. 
Perennial, creeping and rooting at the nodes. Leaves broadly cordate. 
Carpophore deciduous with the fruit. Fruits obscurely several-ribbed (the 
secondary ribs sometimes conspicuous) (1. H. asiatica. 
1. H. vulgaris (common), Linn.; DC. Prod. iv. 59; Bentli. FI. Austr. iii. 
339. Stems slender, creeping in mud or floating in water, rooting at every node 
and emitting from the same point tufts of leaves and peduncles. Leaves orbicular, 
£ to lin. diameter, or when very luxuriant twice that size, crenate or slightly 
lobed, peltately attached by the centre to a rather long petiole, with about 9 or 
when luxuriant 11 nerves radiating from the same point. Stipules broad and 
entire but very soon worn away from the rooting nodes. Peduncles shorter than 
the' petioles, either with a single terminal head or umbel or with the addition of 
2 or 3 whorls below it of minute white flowers on exceedingly short pedicels. 
Bracts small, scarious. Petals valvate, slightly induplicate. Fruit 1J to 1£ line 
broad, not above 1 line long, 2-ribbed on each side (the intermediate ribs alone 
prominent, the lateral ones concealed in the commissure), the dorsal edge of the 
carpels obtuse. — Reichb. Ic. FI. Germ. t. 1842; H. interrupta, Muehl.; I)C. Prod, 
iv. 59; H. verticillata, Thunb.; Harv. and Sond. FI. Cap. ii. 527. 
Hab. : Moreton Bay and other parts of southern Queensland. 
The species is widely distributed over the temperate regions of both hemispheres. — Bentli. 
2. H. hirta (hairy), R. Hr. in A. Rich. Hydroc. 64 ; Bentli. FI. Austr. iii. 
339. Prostrate or creeping and rooting at least at the lower nodes, rather 
slender and more or less hirsute. Leaves orbicular-cordate or reniform, divided 
to about J or f, rarely deeper, into about 7 broad crenate lobes, usually from 4- to 
l|in. diameter. Stipules usually ciliate or fringed. Peduncles solitary or 2 
together, each with a small head of numerous (10 to 40) minute flowers, sessile or 
very shortly pedicellate. Bracts small. Petals valvate. Fruits not more than 
1 line diameter and often smaller, very closely packed in a small globular head, 
quite smooth or granular, each with 2 prominent ribs on each side (the inter- 
mediate ones), the dorsal edge of the carpels obtuse. — Hook. f. FI. Tasm. i. 152. 
Hab.: Brisbane River and other southern localities. 
Var. (?) acutiloba, F. v. M. Leaves divided to about the middle into triangular more or less 
acute lobes. Plant rather large. Fruits very small — From Dawson River, F. v. Mueller , 
Rockhampton, Dallachy, to Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller and others. 
Var. pusilla. Smaller and less hirsute, sometimes nearly glabrous. — H. pulchella, R. Br. in 
A. Rich. Hydroc. 59 ; DC. Prod. iv. 66; H clegans, A. Rich. Hydroc. 58 ; DC. Prod. iv. 66 (with 
deeper lobed leaves) ; H. tasmanica, Hook. f. in Hook. Lond. Journ. vi. 467, and FI. Tasm. i. 
152 to 32a ; H. vagam, Hook. f. in Hook. Lond. Journ. vi. 468, and FI. Tasm. i. 153 t. 33a. — 
From Queensland to Tasmania, including some of Sieber’s specimens, n. 14. The more glabrous 
forms from more aquatic situations. 
The species may not be distinct from a common tropical and subtropical one, which includes 
H. rotundifolia, Roxb.; Wight, Ic. t. 564, from tropical Asia; H. sibthorpioicles, Lam.; A. Rich. 
Hydroc. t. 54 f. 8, from the Mauritius ; H. Mannii , Hook. f. in Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. 194, from 
tropical Africa ; H. marcliantioides, Clos in Gay, FI. Chil. iii. 67, from Chili, and some forms 
usually referred to H. Bonplandi, A. Rich., from the Andes. The common New Zealand H. 
moschata, Foist., is rather more distinct, but even that might perhaps be included in the same 
series, and, if so, Forster’s name appears to have the light of priority for the collective 
species. — Bentli. 
H. intertextu, R. Br.; A. Rich. Hydroc. 63; DC. Prod. iv. 66, from the single small specimen I 
have seen, would appear to be one of the forms of IT. hirta, with rather longer styles. A. Richard 
describes the carpophore as persistent, a character which the specimen 1 saw did not show. 
IT. Gaudichaudiana , DC. Prod. iv. 67. only known to me by the diagnosis given, is again 
probably one of the forms of II. hirta. Ilenth. 
3. H. laxiflora (flowers loose in the umbel), DC. Prod. iv. 61 ; lienlli. FL. 
Austr. iii. 340. Stems creeping and rooting like the allied species, but the 
flowering branches often ascending or erect to the length of 6in. or even more, 
hirsute as well as the leaves with spreading hairs. Leaves orbicular-cordate, 
