Phyllanthus polygonoides
Phyllanthus pentaphyllus
knotweed leafflower, knotweed leaflower, smartweed leaf-flower
fivepetal leaf-flower
terete, not winged, glabrous.
main stems and ultimate branchlets terete, not winged, usually glabrous, rarely scabridulous.
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 auriculate, dark brown.;
leaves on ultimate branchlets distichous, well developed;
stipules not auriculate, pale brown to brown;
blade elliptic or obovate to suborbiculate, 2–8 × 1–5 mm, base acute to rounded, apex obtuse to rounded and apiculate, both surfaces glabrous or abaxial scabridulous.
cymules or flowers solitary, unisexual or bisexual, with 1(–2) pistillate flowers and/or 1–3 staminate flowers.
cymules or flowers solitary, unisexual, staminate distributed along branchlet, with (10–)15–20 flowers, pistillate distributed along branchlet or distal, with 1 flower.
staminate 1.5–3.5 mm, pistillate spreading in fruit, 2.5–7 mm.
staminate 0.3–0.8 mm, pistillate spreading in fruit, (1–)1.2–1.8(–2.1) 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, pale yellow to white, flat, 0.7–0.8 mm;
nectary extrastaminal, 5 glands;
stamens 2, filaments connate 2/3 length.
sepals (5–)6, green with white margins, flat, 1.5–2.5 mm, pinnately veined;
nectary annular, 6-lobed.
sepals 5, green with broad white margins, flat, (0.7–)0.9–1.2 mm, obscurely veined;
nectary annular, 5-lobed.
2.7–3.2 mm diam., smooth.
1.7–1.9 mm diam., smooth.
uniformly brown, (1.1–)1.2–1.4(–1.5) mm, irregularly verrucose.
uniformly brown, 0.8–0.9 mm, longitudinally ribbed.
= 16.
= 52.
Phyllanthus polygonoides
Phyllanthus pentaphyllus
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.)
G. L. Webster (1955, 1970) treated the Florida plants of Phyllanthus pentaphyllus as var. floridanus, distinguishing them from those of the West Indies based on the former being dioecious or at least having branchlets that produce flowers of only one sex, and the latter being monoecious with each branchlet bearing both staminate and pistillate flowers. However, he acknowledged that dioecious individuals are found in Cuba and that the distinction between the varieties was weak (Webster 1955, 1956–58). Examination of additional specimens shows that plants with monoecious branchlets are not uncommon in Florida and that dioecious plants are found in both Cuba and the Bahamas; therefore, var. floridanus is not recognized here.
G. L. Webster (1955) treated Phyllanthus polycladus Urban of Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles as a subspecies of P. pentaphyllus. These taxa seem amply different in habit, leaf blade shape and texture, and pistillate nectary shape, and are here considered separate species.
Phyllanthus pentaphyllus in the flora area is restricted to Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, where its rocky pineland habitat is threatened by development. Variety floridanus, when recognized, is regarded as threatened.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
LA Plants
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
