Tian Hu Sui

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides is a small, creeping perennial herb of the Araliaceae (formerly placed in Apiaceae), widespread in moist, shaded ground across tropical and subtropical Asia. The slender, prostrate stems root freely at the nodes and form low mats only a few centimetres high. Each erect petiole bears a single small reniform to nearly orbicular leaf, 0.5–2 cm across, with a shallowly lobed, crenate margin and a deep, narrow basal sinus. Tiny greenish-white flowers are borne in compact simple umbels on short peduncles arising from the leaf axils, followed by laterally flattened schizocarpic fruits about 1 mm long. It is gathered fresh or dried throughout the warm months. The species is morphologically smaller and distinct from Centella asiatica, with which it should not be confused.