Species
+

Dichondra micrantha Urb.

Asian pony's-foot, Asian ponysfoot, Asian ponysfoot, Kidney weed

Climate known 48 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Dichondra micrantha, the Asian ponysfoot or lawnleaf, is a species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae. It is native to Texas, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and it has been introduced worldwide. A prostrate perennial reaching 10 cm (4 in), it prefers wetter soils. In the past it was recommended as a grass substitute in lawns due to its easy maintenance requirements, but proved vulnerable to flea beetles.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dichondra micrantha”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Dichondra

Dichondra is a small genus of flowering plants in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. They are prostrate, perennial, herbaceous plants, with creeping stems which take root readily at the leaf nodes. The flowers are white, greenish or yellowish, 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) diameter. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Dichondra”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Convolvulaceae
Described by
Urb.
Native to
Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic +2
Wild records
10 in range· 9 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Aug, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1353mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 206 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–43DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1353 mm a year, wettest June at 206 mm, driest March at 51 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 14.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Dichondra repens var. micrantha (Urb.) A.M.Lu.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (978 mm of 1353 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.0 °C against a yearly mean of 25.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1353 mm a year, wettest June at 206 mm, driest March at 51 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1353 mm a year at the habitat, 978 mm of it May to October. Wettest month June at 206 mm, driest March at 51 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1259 mm to 1599 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 14.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 14.8 °C, the absolute minimum 11.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 18.2 °C to 20.7 °C), warmest day 31.4 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 26 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Aug; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 25 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1353 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 9 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 11.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°35.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)11.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 24–43RH 58–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 9 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 25–2726 / 25–2727 / 25–2929 / 26–3030 / 27–3131 / 29–3131 / 29–3231 / 29–3230 / 29–3129 / 28–3027 / 27–2826 / 25–27
Night °C20 / 18–2120 / 18–2121 / 19–2122 / 20–2223 / 22–2425 / 23–2525 / 24–2625 / 24–2625 / 23–2624 / 22–2522 / 21–2321 / 19–22
Rain mm55 / 38–11565 / 44–8651 / 47–10177 / 67–143134 / 104–193206 / 141–252133 / 114–159160 / 121–184201 / 156–231144 / 125–17676 / 63–16751 / 40–124
DLI26 / 25–2831 / 30–3337 / 36–3843 / 41–4342 / 40–4341 / 41–4243 / 42–4441 / 40–4136 / 35–3931 / 30–3326 / 25–2824 / 23–26
RH %60 / 59–6359 / 59–6358 / 58–6258 / 58–6260 / 60–6463 / 62–6662 / 62–6562 / 62–6664 / 63–6663 / 62–6561 / 60–6560 / 59–64

Each figure is the median across the 9 grid cells holding the 10 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1338:1951 (23.075, -82.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 9 distinct grid cells holding the 10 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1338:1951 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 23.00_-82.500, lapse-corrected -10 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 39 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico· introduced: Great Britain, Belgium, Portugal, Albania, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Mali, Mauritania, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Rwanda, Zaïre, Ethiopia, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Northern Provinces, St.Helena, Madagascar, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, East Himalaya, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, New Caledonia, Hawaii, Arizona, California, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southwest, Colombia, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Chile South, Uruguay
Kew's description“subshrub” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker23.083, -82.45 · in the densest population, 6 records (60% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 10 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 9 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 1705 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. Under a dozen records: treat the map and the climate as indicative.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 10 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dichondra micranthaDichondra micranthaDichondra micranthaDichondra micranthaDichondra micranthaDichondra micranthaDichondra micranthaDichondra micrantha

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Dan Killam, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) chiuluan, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Tim Johnson, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dichondra micrantha, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Contribution to the flora of Asian and European countries: new national and regional vascular plant records
Marcin Nobis, Arkadiusz Nowak, Agnieszka Nobis, Beata Paszko (2014) · Acta Botanica Gallica
Long term ground cover options for apple orchards
K.C. Harrington, M.J. Hartley, A. Rahman, T.K. James (2005) · Proceedings of the New Zealand Weed Control Conference
Assessing ground covers in a newly planted apple orchard
M.J. Hartley, Atta‐ur Rahman, K.C. Harrington, T.K. James (2000) · Proceedings of the New Zealand Weed Control Conference
Contribution to the flora of Asian and European countries: new national and regional vascular plant records, 9
Marcin Nobis, Jolanta Marciniuk, P. Marciniuk, Mateusz Wolanin (2020) · TURKISH JOURNAL OF BOTANY
Orchard weed control with Dichondra micrantha ground covers.
K.C. Harrington, Tao Zhang, M Osborne, Atta‐ur Rahman (1999) · 12th Australian Weeds Conference, Papers and Proceedings, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 12-16 September 1999: Weed management into the 21st century: do we know where we're going?
Potential of Fusilade, Poast and CGA 82725 for Control of Weedy Grasses in Woody Nursery Crops and Groundcovers
Robert P. Rice, Gavin Lewis, K. P. Harrell (1985) · Journal of Environmental Horticulture
Herbicides for controlling weeds in Mercury Bay weed
K.C. Harrington, Tong Zhang (1997) · Proceedings of the New Zealand Weed Control Conference
Medicinal Plant Resources in the Treatment of Liver Disease Used by Li Minority,Hainan Island
Gan Bing-chun (2013) · Lishizhen Medicine and Materia Medica Research

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Dichondra 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 128 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.