Obolaria virginica - Pennywort/Virginia Pennywort
Pennywort/Virginia Pennywort (Obolaria virginica) is a small, perennial herb that grows from 3 to 7 inches tall. It is often overlooked in the leaves on the forest floor due to its small size. It is a low, fleshy plant with dull white or purplish flowers usually in groups of three. The lower leaves are bract-like (scale-like) while the upper floral leaves are obovate and around 0.5" long. The upper leaves are opposite, thick, and round or wedge-shaped.
The flowers are about 1/2 inch long. The upper leaves are purplish and bract-like.
This plant is found in moist hardwoods and thickets from New Jersey to southern Illinois and south to Florida and Texas. It flowers during the spring.
The genus name Obolaria comes from the greek word obolos which means "a small coin" and refers to the thick, roundish leaves. Pennywort contains very little chlorophyll and depends on mycorrhizal fungi that is associated with the roots of a photosynthetic woody plant. The result is that there is a three-way relationship that develops between Pennywort, the fungus, and the woody plant that involves the flow of carbon, water, and nutrients between these plants.
Pennywort was traditionally used by Native Americans as a cough medicine and as a poultice for treating cuts and bruises.
The flowers are about 1/2 inch long. The upper leaves are purplish and bract-like.
This plant is found in moist hardwoods and thickets from New Jersey to southern Illinois and south to Florida and Texas. It flowers during the spring.
The genus name Obolaria comes from the greek word obolos which means "a small coin" and refers to the thick, roundish leaves. Pennywort contains very little chlorophyll and depends on mycorrhizal fungi that is associated with the roots of a photosynthetic woody plant. The result is that there is a three-way relationship that develops between Pennywort, the fungus, and the woody plant that involves the flow of carbon, water, and nutrients between these plants.
Pennywort was traditionally used by Native Americans as a cough medicine and as a poultice for treating cuts and bruises.