3. Dichondra J. R. Forster & G. Forster, Char. Gen. Pl. ed. 2. 39, plate 20. 1776.
Ponyfoot [Greek dis, double, and chondros, grain, alluding to each flower producing two 1-seeded capsules in D. repens, the type species]
Daniel F. Austin†
Perennials. Stems procumbent to prostrate or trailing, usually rooting at nodes, sometimes mat-forming, glabrous or hairy. Leaves petiolate; blade ± cordate-orbiculate to ± reniform, 3–51 mm, to 62 mm wide, surfaces glabrate, glabrous, or hairy. Inflorescences: flowers usually solitary, rarely paired. Flowers: sepals lanceolate to obovate or spatulate, 1–4(–5.2) mm, basally connate; corolla usually cream, greenish, greenish yellow, or white, rarely purplish or reddish, campanulate to funnelform, 1.5–5 mm, limb 5-lobed; styles 2, insertion on ovary ± basal; stigmas capitate. Fruits capsular or utricular, subglobose to ± compressed and/or ± incised, 2-lobed, indehiscent, pericarp fragile, shattering irregularly, or dehiscence irregularly valvate. Seeds 1 or 2(–4), obovoid, pyriform, or subspheric, glabrous, smooth. x = 15.
Species 15 (8 in the flora): North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia; introduced also in Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands (Hawaii).
This treatment is adapted from the revision by B. C. Tharp and M. C. Johnston (1961).
SELECTED REFERENCE Tharp, B. C. and M. C. Johnston. 1961. Recharacterization of Dichondra (Convolvulaceae) and a revision of the North American species. Brittonia 13: 346–360.
