Dichondra

Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:

DICHONDRA Forst. & Forst. f., Char. Gen. Pl. 39(1776)

Tribe:

Dichondreae

Synonyms:

Demidofia J.F. Gmel., Syst. 458 (1791).

Steripha Banks ex Gaertn., Fr. & Sem. Pl. 2: 81. t. 94, f. 6 (1791).

Dichondropsis Brandegee, University of California Publications in Botany 3(8): 388 (1909).

Type Species:

Dichondra repens Forst. & Forst. f., Char. Gen. Pl. 40. t. 20 (1776).

Habit:

Creeping or crawling perennial herbs, often rooting at nodes.

Leaves:

Long-petioled, minutely stipulate, with membranaceous, entire-margined reniform to orbicular-reniform, apically rounded or emarginate blades; pubescence of equally two-armed, longitudinally oriented, medifixed trichomes.

Inflorescences:

Solitary, axillary, pedicellate, often hidden among leaves.

Flowers:

Actinomorphic, small (typically ≤ 0.5 mm wide), whitish, greenish, or yellowish; sepals united basally, ± equal, accrescent after anthesis; corolla valvate-induplicate in bud, lobed more than half its length, typically shorter than the calyx at anthesis; stamens 5, about equal in length, included, the filaments filiform, not or slightly dilated at base, glabrous, the anthers small, short-sagittate, the ovary < 1 mm long, bicarpellate, deeply lobed, each lobe with 2 ovules, glabrous or pubescent, styles 2, gynobasic, free, filiform; stigmas capitate, rough-surfaced.

Pollen:

smooth, 3-colpate.

Fruits:

Short, irregularly 2-valved or indehiscent, apically broadly rounded, truncate or emarginate or deeply 2-lobed.

Seeds:

Seeds 1 or 2 per lobe, subglobose to obovoid, smooth, often light brown, embryo conduplicate, the cotyledons linear.

Chromosome details

Chromosome number:

Publication(chromosome):

Austin, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 60(2): 366 (1973). Yeh, H. C. & J. L. Tsai. Karyotype analysis of the Convolvulaceae in Taiwan. Annual Taiwan Mus. 38: 58. (1995).

Distribution:

United States to Argentina and Chile, Australia (D. repens), New Zealand (D. brevifolia, D. repens), and introduced in Old World. map

Ecology:

Growing in varied habitats, from grasslands and semi-desert to woodlands, heliophilic. Probably autogamous.

Common names and uses:

Widely cultivated as a grass substitute, these plants require no mowing and do not produce allergenic pollen. Two primary species are cultivated, D. micrantha (usually called either D. carolinensis or D. repens) and D. argentea. Some species have been used as medicines, but the practice is rare and declining. Plants are said to cause dermatitis in some people (Lampe, K. F., and M. A. McCann. 1985. AMA Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants. American Medical Association, Chicago). Names include dichondra, false pennywort, kidneyweed, ma tí jin (horse-hoof gold, Chinese), xiao jin qián (little golden coin, Chinese), aoi-goke (cordate-leaved plant like moss, Japanese), grama-japonesa (Japanese grass, Portuguese), and alfombra (ground cloth, Spanish) (for others cf. Economic Botany 52(1):88-106).

Phylogeny:

Related to Petrogenia as first pointed out by Tharp and Johnston (1961) and later supported by Stefanovic et al. (2002). Falkia and Nephrophyllum in eastern Africa and the Middle-East are close to Dichondra in morphology.

Number of Species:

Infrageneric Characters:

Fruits very deeply bilobed, the carpels usually 1-seeded … subg. Dichondra
Fruits entire or merely emarginate, often with 2 seeds in each carpel … subg. Capsularia

Commentary:

There has been no revision of the genus and the estimated number of species remains tentative.

References:

Austin, D. F. 1998. The Indiscriminate vector: Human distribution of Dichondra micrantha (Convolvulaceae). Economic Botany 52(1):88-106.

Austin, D. F., and P. B. Cavalcante. 1982. Convolvuláceas da Amazônia. Publicaçðes Avulsas, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi 36:1-134.

Austin, D. F., Sebsebse Demissew & Jill Young. 1998. Studies of Florida Convolvulaceae‑‑VI. Dichondra. Florida Scientist 61 (3/4):195‑202.

Mill, R. R. 1999. Family 165. Convolvulaceae. Pages 834-862 in Flora of Bhutan. Including a Record of Plants from Sikkim and Darjeeling (D. G. Long, ed.) Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Royal Government of Bhutan, Edinburgh & Bhutan.

Stefanovic, S., L. Krueger, and R. G. Olmstead. 2002. Monophyly of the Convolvulaceae and circumscription of their major lineages based on DNA sequences of multiple chloroplast loci. American Journal of Botany 89(9): 1510-1522.

Welman, WG. 1999. Notes on Dichondra and Xenostegia (Convolvulaceae) in southern Africa. Bothalia 29:253-254.

Author/Editor

Author:

Austin, D. F.

Editor:

G. Staples

Publication:

Tharp, B. C. and M. C. Johnston. 1961. Recharacterization of Dichondra (Convolvulaceae) and a revision of the North American species. Brittonia 13:346-360.

Contributors:

Convolvulaceae Unlimited

Convolvulaceae

Dichondra

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Dichondra

Chromosome details

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Convolvulaceae

Dichondra

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Chromosome details

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