Plant: perennial herb; stems with a perennial taproot and annual stolons; densely hairy with soft silky trichomes giving the plant a pale tawny-green cast

Leaves: herbaceous, the blades reniform to orbicular, sparsely pubescent, 8-40 mm long, 10-55 mm wide, the apex often shallowly emarginate, the base truncate to broadly cordate, usually with a deep sinus; petioles 1.5-15 cm long, curved

INFLORESCENCE: of solitary flowers on recurved peduncles; bracteoles 2, scale-like

Flowers: pedicels 5-13(-26) mm long, sharply recurved, usually in the upper portion; calyx broadly campanulate, the sepals lanceolate, 2.5-4 mm long at anthesis, accrescent to 3.8-5.2 mm long in fruit, villous externally; corollas greenish cream-colored, campanulate, 3.5-6 mm long, 5-lobed about 2/3-3/4 of the length, the lobes lanceolate, acute, villous on outer surface

Fruit: FRUITS capsular, indehiscent or tardily dehiscent and circumscissile, membranaceous, entire or 2-lobed, the pericarp thin, 6-7 mm long, 3-5 mm wide. SEEDS pyriform, 1.5-2.25(-4) mm long, brown

Misc: Oak woodland and lower ponderosa pine zone; 1200-1850 m (4000-6000 ft); Jul-Oct

REFERENCES: Austin, Daniel F. 1998. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Convolvulaceae 30(2): 61.

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous, creeping perennials, stems rooting at the nodes, herbage densely covered with fine, silky hairs giving the plant a pale tawny-green cast, plants with a perennial taproot and annual stolons.

Leaves: Alternate, green, orbicular to reniform, 1-4 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, the apex often shallowly emarginate, the base truncate to broadly cordate, usually with a deep sinus, blades sparsely hairy below.

Flowers: Small, inconspicuous, corollas greenish cream-colored, campanulate, 3.5-6 mm long, 5-lobed, the lobes lanceolate with acute tips, villous externally, calyx broadly campanulate, sepals lanceolate, 2.5-4 mm long at anthesis, increasing to 4-5 mm long in fruit, villous externally, pistils distinct or nearly so, styles 2, flowers borne solitary on stout, recurved, bractless peduncles, these usually less than 1 cm long. Pedicels after anthesis often strongly revolute or sigmoid-curved.

Fruits: Capsules 6-7 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, circumsessile, (with the top opening like a lid), thin and soft, entire or 2-lobed, the pericarp thin, indehiscent or tardily dehiscent. Seeds brown, pyriform, 1.5-2.5 (up to 4) mm long.

Ecology: Found in oak woodlands and the lower ponderosa pine zone, from 4,000-6,000 ft (1219-1829 m); flowering July-October.

Distribution: Texas, Arizona; Mexico.

Notes: Rare in Arizona. The peduncles are the key to separating this species from the similar D. repens, which has peduncles commonly more than 1 cm long, which are silvery-sericeous (hairy) below.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011

Etymology: Dichondra comes from the Greek di, "two," and chondra, "a lump of grain," hence "double grain" from deeply lobed fruit, while brachypoda comes from the Greek brachys, "short," and podion, "a little foot," thus meaning "short-footed" in reference to the pedicels of the spikelets.