Hydrocotyle . J lxx. umbellifer2E. 
869 
and often 4 secondary ones between. Seeds 1 in each carpel. 
Species about 1500, chiefly in northern temperate regions, very 
few in the tropics. 
Creeping herbs ..... 
Erect herbs. 
Leaves spiny; flowers in a dense head . 
Unarmed herbs; flowers distinctly umbelled. 
Umbels irregularly compound, rays few 
Umbels distinctly rayed 
1. Hydrocotyle 
2. Eryngium 
3. Sanicula 
4. CEnanthe 
1 . HYDROCOTYLE, Linn. 
Long-creeping herbs. Leaves cordate rounded or reniform 
lobed or crenate, long petioled. Umbels simple small dense. 
Flowers very small. Calyx-teeth minute or o. Petals entire. 
Fruit ellipsoid, flat nearly or quite sessile in small heads. Species 
70, tropics and temperate regions. 
Stem branches ascending a foot or more; umbels 
clustered on long pendulous peduncles; leaves 
lobed . . . . . . . (1) H. javaniea 
No ascending branches; umbel peduncles very short; 
leaves reniform crenulate. 
Leaves *5 to 2 in. wide, crenate . . . . (2) H. asiatica 
Leaves *25 in. wide, lobed . . . . . {3) H. rotundifolia 
(1) H. javaniea Thwib. Dissert . Hydrocotyl, n. 17, t. 2; Clarke, 
in Hook. fil. F.B.I. ii. 667; King, l.c. 70. 
Stem creeping and throwing up branches a foot tall. Leaves 
rounded or reniform cordate with 5 or 6 lobes more or less crenulate, 
2 in. wide and a little shorter; petioles 1 to 4 in. long, pubescent. 
Peduncles numerous terminal, hairy, *5 in. long with numerous 
bracts at the base, each bearing a compact umbel or head of many 
small white flowers, occasionally branched. Fruit numerous 
crowded, broadly obovoid, compressed, m i in. long. Hah. Damp 
spots in woods usually high up on mountains. Pahang, Telom. 
Perak, Thaiping Hills 200 to 500 ft. altitude (Kunstler); near the 
Cottage, 4000 ft. altitude; Temengoh. Distrib. India, Malay isles, 
Australia. 
(2) H. asiatica Linn. Sp. PI. 234! Clarke, l.c. ii. 669 i King, 
l.c. 71. 
Slender creeping plant with no ascending stems. Leaves in 
tufts of 2 or 3 at the nodes, reniform crenate, glabrous, *5 to 2 in. 
wide; petioles 1 to 3 in. long. Flowers crowded in the leaf-axils 
with numerous bracts. Umbels compact on very short *1 to '2 in. 
long peduncles. Fruit *1 in. long, strongly ribbed. Hah. Very 
common in grass and waste places all over the peninsula. Distrib. 
tropics and sub-tropics of Old World. Native name: Pegaga. 
Use: A drug for liver-troubles and leprosy, much valued and 
largely collected and sold by the herb-women in the markets. 
