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.

Distribution

North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia, introduced also in Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands (Hawaii).

Discussion

Species 15 (8 in the flora).

This treatment is adapted from the revision by B. C. Tharp and M. C. Johnston (1961).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Dichondra argentea, Dichondra brachypoda, Dichondra carolinensis, Dichondra donelliana, Dichondra micrantha, Dichondra occidentalis, Dichondra recurvata, Dichondra sericea

Key

1	Fruits slightly notched to weakly 2-lobed.	> 2
2	Corollas purplish to reddish; abaxial leaf surfaces glabrate.	Dichondra occidentalis
2	Corollas cream; abaxial leaf surfaces sericeous.	> 3
3	Leaf blade surfaces: abaxial and adaxial densely sericeous; pedicels 4–6 mm.	Dichondra argentea
3	Leaf blade surfaces: abaxial moderately sericeous, adaxial sparsely sericeous to glabrate; pedicels 5–13(–26) mm.	Dichondra brachypoda
1	Fruits notably 2-lobed.	> 4
4	Leaf blade surfaces: abaxial densely sericeous, hairs silvery gray, adaxial sparsely sericeous to glabrate, hairs green; fruit lobes separating, each valvately dehiscent.	Dichondra sericea
4	Leaf blade surfaces: abaxial densely to sparsely sericeous, adaxial sparsely sericeous, hairs sometimes patent, or glabrous; fruit lobes separating, each indehiscent (pericarp fragile, shattering irregularly).	> 5
5	Pedicels ± straight, seldom notably recurved near tips; sepals longer than fruits.	Dichondra carolinensis
5	Pedicels recurved near tips; sepals shorter than to slightly longer than fruits.	> 6
6	Sepals 2–2.5 mm in fruit; fruits 2–2.6 × 1.8–2.3 mm.	Dichondra micrantha
6	Sepals 2.5–3.8 mm in fruit; fruits 2.5–4 × 2.5–3.3 mm.	> 7
7	Leaf blades (5–)10–15(–22) × (8–)15–25(–38) mm; corollas 2–3 mm.	Dichondra donelliana
7	Leaf blades (10–)20–30(–51) × (15–)30–40(–62) mm; corollas 3.1–4 mm.	Dichondra recurvata