pennywort

American  

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

noun

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

---

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

---

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

The hedgerows had given place to stone walls now, loosely built without any mortar, and with green ferns and pennywort growing in the crevices, and forget-me-nots in the ditch below.

From A Terrible Tomboy by Brazil, Angela