Plant Profile
Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides, commonly known as Lawn Marsh Pennywort, is a charming little aquatic plant native to Asia with delicate, rounded, clover-like leaves. It's often compared to the popular Hydrocotyle tripartita 'Japan', but produces distinctively rounder foliage. It's also refreshingly easy to work with: run it as a low-growing foreground carpet under high light and CO2, let it bush out in the midground, or just let it trail across your hardscape and see where it ends up. Thanks to its fast growth rate, it's a great option when you want lush greenery filling in your freshwater aquascape sooner rather than later.
Tissue Culture cups ensure your aquascape gets a super clean starting point. Lab‑grown and fully sterile, it arrives without pests, snails, duckweed, or any unwanted algae. It’s the go‑to option for anyone who wants peace of mind when adding fresh greenery to a carefully maintained setup.
Key Features & Benefits
- Rounded clover-like leaves create unique visual texture across foreground carpet, midground, or hardscape zones.
- Rapidly fills in empty space while helping absorb excess water column nutrients.
- A versatile growth pattern can be trained into a tight foreground carpet.
Care & Planting Instructions
-
Thoroughly wash away the nutrient gel from the roots with your fingers before parting it out into manageable portions.
- Use fine-tip pinsettes to plant small stem clusters 1 inch apart into aquarium soil.
- Provide medium-to-high lighting. While adaptable, providing pressurized CO2 injection and intense light keeps growth low, dense, and carpet-like.
- Maintain stable water parameters and avoid sudden environmental shifts to prevent leaf melt or stem rotting.
- Trim runner shoots anywhere along the stem with curved scissors to encourage thicker, more compact branching. Read our trimming & propagation guide for details.
Quick Facts
Listed information should be treated as general guidelines only. Team Buce Plant encourages you to do thorough research to ensure healthy growth!
| Attribute |
Specification |
| Scientific Name |
Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides |
| Common Name(s) |
Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides, Lawn Marsh Pennywort |
| Family |
Araliaceae |
| Plant Type / Taxonomy |
Stem / Creeping Carpeting Plant |
| Care Difficulty |
Easy to Moderate |
| Light Requirement |
Medium to High |
| CO2 Requirement |
Required (Essential for low carpeting growth) |
| Placement / Usage |
Foreground Carpet / Midground Bushing |
| Height / Size |
5–10” (Easily kept under 2” with pruning) |
| Growth Rate |
Moderate to Fast |
| Water Parameters |
pH 6.5–7.5 |
| Propagation Method |
Cuttings / Splitting Rooted Clumps |
| Origin |
Asia |
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How does Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides differ from Hydrocotyle Tripartita 'Japan'?
While both species feature clover-like trailing foliage, Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides produces noticeably rounder, less deeply lobed leaf margins compared to the three-lobed shape of Hydrocotyle tripartita 'Japan'.
2. How do I keep Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides low-growing as a foreground carpet?
To keep the plant creeping horizontally across the substrate rather than growing tall, supply high-intensity lighting, pressurized CO2, and routinely trim vertical shoots. Light pruning triggers lateral runner shoots that stay close to the soil.
3. How do I prepare Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides UNS Tissue Culture before planting?
Carefully remove the gel from the roots by washing the plant in a bowl of room-temperature water or gently rinsing it under a tap. Once the gel is removed, separate the dense cluster into smaller clumps or individual stems and plant them into substrate using fine pinsettes.
