Phyllanthus polygonoides
Phyllanthus niruri
knotweed leafflower, knotweed leaflower, smartweed leaf-flower
gale of the wind
terete, not winged, glabrous.
main stems terete, not winged, glabrous; ultimate branchlets subterete, not winged, glabrous.
spiral, all well developed;
stipules auriculate, pink or red to medium brown, with hyaline margins;
blade narrowly oblong to obovate, 5–10 × 1.5–5 mm, base obtuse, apex acute to mucronulate, both surfaces glabrous or scabridulous.
on main stems spiral, scalelike;
stipules not auriculate, brown.;
leaves on ultimate branchlets distichous, well developed;
stipules not auriculate, brown;
blade elliptic, 11–20 × 4.5–9 mm, base obtuse to rounded, apex obtuse, both surfaces glabrous.
cymules or flowers solitary, unisexual or bisexual, with 1(–2) pistillate flowers and/or 1–3 staminate flowers.
cymules or flowers solitary, unisexual, proximal with 3–7 staminate flowers, distal with 1 pistillate flower.
staminate 1.5–3.5 mm, pistillate spreading in fruit, 2.5–7 mm.
staminate 1.2–1.8 mm, pistillate spreading in fruit, 4–7 mm.
sepals (5–)6, greenish yellow, sometimes suffused with red, with white margins, flat, 0.7–1.3 mm;
nectary extrastaminal, 6 glands;
stamens 3, filaments connate 2/3 length.
sepals 5(–6), pale green, flat, 1.5–3 mm;
nectary extrastaminal, 5(–6) glands;
stamens 3, filaments connate 1/2 length.
sepals (5–)6, green with white margins, flat, 1.5–2.5 mm, pinnately veined;
nectary annular, 6-lobed.
sepals 5, green, flat, 3–3.5 mm, pinnately veined;
nectary annular, unlobed.
2.7–3.2 mm diam., smooth.
3.5 mm diam., smooth.
uniformly brown, (1.1–)1.2–1.4(–1.5) mm, irregularly verrucose.
uniformly brown, 1.5–1.8 mm, verrucose.
= 16.
= 26 (Costa Rica).
Phyllanthus polygonoides
Phyllanthus niruri
Phyllanthus polygonoides is closely related to P. liebmannianus. Although in the flora area they are allopatric and easily distinguished by the characters used in the key, the differences other than habit are all quantitative, and where the species overlap in parts of northeastern Mexico they can be difficult to separate.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Phyllanthus niruri is found in the flora area only in DeWitt, Fayette, and Lavaca counties (and historically from Gonzales County, where it appears to be extirpated; L. E. Brown and S. J. Marcus 1998); it is widespread in the American tropics. Like P. urinaria, it is widely used in folk medicine and is the subject of intense pharmacological research. Plants from outside the West Indies and Caribbean northern South America often have been segregated as subsp. lathyroides; the differences are trivial and recent authors (G. L. Webster 2001; V. W. Steinmann 2007) did not subdivide the species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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