pennywort

American  

[pen-ee-wurt, -wawrt] / ˈpɛn iˌwɜrt, -ˌwɔrt /

noun

1. any of several plants having round or roundish leaves, as the navelwort.

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pennywort British  

/ ˈpɛnɪˌwɜːt /

noun

1. Also called: navelwort. a crassulaceous Eurasian rock plant, Umbilicus rupestris (or Cotyledon umbilicus ), with whitish-green tubular flowers and rounded leaves

2. a marsh plant, Hydrocotyle vulgaris, of Europe and North Africa, having circular leaves and greenish-pink flowers: family Hydrocotylaceae

3. a gentianaceous plant, Obolaria virginica, of E North America, with fleshy scalelike leaves and small white or purplish flowers

4. any of various other plants with rounded penny-like leaves

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Etymology

Origin of pennywort

First recorded in 1275–1325, pennywort is from the Middle English word penywort. See penny, wort ²

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pennywort

Minari has many English names throughout the different Asian countries where it also grows: water dropwort, Chinese celery, Indian pennywort, Japanese parsley.

From Slate ● Feb. 12, 2021

The plant known in Korean as minari—which is also known in English as Chinese celery, Japanese parsley, Indian pennywort, or Javan dropwort—isn’t native to the Americas.

From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2020

Invasive, non-native plants, such as floating pennywort, Australian swamp stonecrop and water fern can also be distributed across the country by floodwaters.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 22, 2013

The plants to be banned from April 2014 are water fern, parrot's feather, floating pennywort, water primrose and Australian swamp stonecrop.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2013

The lock was very old, and the brickwork above water covered with pennywort and crane's-bill growing where the mortar had rotted at the joints.

From The Naturalist on the Thames by C. J. (Charles John) Cornish

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