Hydrocotyle ranunculoides (floating pennywort).

H. ranunculoides is a perennial, aquatic plant native to the Americas. It was introduced outside of its native range through the aquatic nursery trade and has since naturalized in many countries around the world. Like many aquatic weeds, H. ranunculoides possesses a number of characteristics which contributes to its invasiveness: high growth rates, adaptability to prevailing nutrient conditions, very effective vegetative propagation, plasticity in growth response, overwintering to avoid low temperature stress, resistance to herbivory, resistance to chemical control, and absence of specific pests and diseases in introduced environments. Its rapid growth means that H. ranunculoides can produce dense, interwoven floating mats across slow-flowing waters. These mats restrict the light available for submerged macrophytes, decreases oxygen levels and therefore decrease the overall biodiversity of an area. It can also increase the risk of flooding and block channels. H. ranunuloides is considered a serious invader in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK in particular and was added to the EPPO alert list in 2004 (EPPO, 2004) and Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act in the UK. It is also banned from sale in the Netherlands. It has spread into water bodies in a number of other European countries including France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. In 2016, the European Commission's Implementing Regulation (2016/1141) was published, which includes H. ranunculoides among the list of 14 invasive alien plant species of Union concern.