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

Example Sentences

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

But wherever leaves rise free and solitary into the air, without mutual interference, they are always circular, as may be well seen in the common nasturtium and the English pennywort.

From Science in Arcady by Allen, Grant