Hygrophila costataNees

yerba de hicotea

WFO wfo-0000726781 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–g · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Hygrophila costata, photographed by Romi Galeota Lencina
fig. a Romi Galeota Lencina, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-02-06 / obs. 178488015
Hygrophila costata, photographed by Romi Galeota Lencina
fig. b Romi Galeota Lencina, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178488022
Hygrophila costata, photographed by Facundo Chieffo
fig. c Facundo Chieffo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180229181
Hygrophila costata, photographed by Joselin Listur
fig. d Joselin Listur, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110399142
Hygrophila costata, photographed by Facundo Chieffo
fig. e Facundo Chieffo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180229211
Hygrophila costata, photographed by Joselin Listur
fig. f Joselin Listur, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110399154
Hygrophila costata, photographed by Joselin Listur
fig. g Joselin Listur, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110399163

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 38 botanical countries

Regions where Hygrophila costata is native: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, Texas, Argentina Northeast, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela AlabamaFloridaGeorgiaLouisianaMexico GulfMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMississippiTexasArgentina NortheastBelizeBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela
Native distribution of Hygrophila costata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Belize BLZ
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Louisiana LOU
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Mississippi MSI
Texas TEX

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 104 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 6.1 °C 9.4 °C 21.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.1 °C 28.7 °C 32.7 °C
Annual rainfall 1,118 mm 1,297 mm 3,324 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 118 mm 198 mm 351 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 104 research-grade observations of Hygrophila costata that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 45 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Blepharis verticillata F.Heyne ex Wall.
  • Calophanes cubensis A.Rich.
  • Dipteracanthus brasiliensis (Spreng.) C.Presl
  • Eberlea glomerata Riddell ex Nees
  • Ecbolium lithospermifolium (Vahl) Kuntze
  • Hygrophila atricheta Bridar.
  • Hygrophila brasiliensis Lindau
  • Hygrophila brasiliensis (Spreng.) Lindau
  • Hygrophila brasiliensis Spreng.
  • Hygrophila costata var. angustifolia Nees
  • Hygrophila costata var. angustifolia Nees
  • Hygrophila costata var. aucta Nees
  • Hygrophila costata var. aucta Nees
  • Hygrophila costata var. strobilantha Nees
  • Hygrophila guianensis var. angustior Nees
  • Hygrophila helodes Nees
  • Hygrophila helodes var. multiflora Nees
  • Hygrophila hispida Nees
  • Hygrophila lacustris (Schltdl. & Cham.) Nees
  • Hygrophila latifolia Nees
  • Hygrophila portoricensis Nees
  • Hygrophila pubescens Nees
  • Hygrophila pubescens var. atricheta (Bridar.) G.Dawson
  • Hygrophila pubescens var. atricheta (Bridar.) G.Dawson

and 21 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.