This is an invasive ground cover in my yard and looks a lot like gotu kola (I think it can also be called pennywort). The leaves are about the size of a nickel/quarter. It likes moisture. It has a strong smell…..sends shoots out into the lawn. It started out one little plant that came with a daisy a friend gave me and now covers about a tenth of an acre!
My question is – could this be a form of the herb gotu kola which can be eaten and used for medicinal purposes? I want to correctly identify before eating it! : )
Hi Shelley,
actually this is the non-native plant Glechoma hederacea, with several common names including gill-over-the-ground and creeping charlie. As far as I know it is harmless to eat and was used as a bitter addition to beer long before hops were used. It may have some medicinal properties – I haven’t looked into that. Most often it is considered a very invasive weed in yards in moist shaded areas. Gotu kola leaves generally have a more triangular wider space between the leaf lobes and more in number and less prominent marginal teeth than your plant. Glechoma is much more bitter than Centella asiatica.
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Steve Hill, Botanist, SCNPS