Phyllanthus tenellus
Phyllanthus angustifolius
Mascarene Island leaf-flower
foliage flower, swordbush
main stems terete, not winged, glabrous or scabridulous; ultimate branchlets subterete, not winged, glabrous or scabridulous.
main stems terete, not winged, glabrous; ultimate branchlets deciduous, flat cladodes to 1 cm wide, not winged, glabrous.
on main stems spiral, scalelike;
stipules not auriculate, reddish brown.;
leaves on ultimate branchlets distichous, well developed;
stipules not auriculate, pale green or pink with paler margins;
blade elliptic to obovate, 6–25 × 4–11 mm, base acute to rounded, apex acute to obtuse, both surfaces glabrous.
on main stems deciduous, spiral, scalelike;
stipules not auriculate, dark brown.;
leaves on ultimate branchlets caducous, distichous, scalelike;
stipules absent.
cymules or flowers solitary, proximal bisexual with 1–2 pistillate flowers and 2–3 staminate flowers, distal with 1 pistillate flower.
cymules, bisexual or staminate, with 1–2(–3) pistillate and/or 2–5 staminate flowers.
staminate 0.5–1.5 mm, pistillate flexuous, capillary, and pendent in fruit, (2.5–)3–8 mm.
staminate (1–)2–6 mm, pistillate spreading in fruit, (1–)2–4(–7) mm.
sepals 5, white except green midrib, flat, 0.4–0.7 mm;
nectary extrastaminal, 5 glands;
stamens 5, filaments distinct.
sepals 6, purplish pink to cream, flat, (0.8–)1–1.5(–2.3) mm;
nectary extrastaminal, 6 distinct glands;
stamens 3(–5), filaments connate 1/2–3/4 length.
sepals 5, white except green midrib, flat, 0.6–0.8 mm, 1-veined;
nectary annular, unlobed.
sepals 6, purplish pink to cream, flat, 1–1.5(–2.2) mm, 1-veined;
nectary annular, undulate or crenulate.
1.7–1.9 mm diam., smooth.
3–4 mm diam., finely wrinkled.
uniformly brown, 0.8–0.9 mm, evenly papillate.
uniformly brown, 1.4–2.6 mm, irregularly verrucose.
= 26.
Phyllanthus tenellus
Phyllanthus angustifolius
Phyllanthus tenellus is easily recognized by its long, capillary pistillate pedicels that are flexuous and pendent in fruit; it is native to the Mascarene Islands and perhaps to eastern Africa, other western Indian Ocean Islands, and the Arabian Peninsula, and is widely naturalized in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. It appears to have been introduced into Florida in the 1920s and is continuing to spread. Phyllanthus tenellus has been reported from Arkansas (E. Sundell et al. 1999) and California as a nursery weed (G. F. Hrusa, pers. comm.), and from Oklahoma in flower beds (B. W. Hoagland, pers. comm.), and may be expected to become naturalized in those states.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Phyllanthus angustifolius is cultivated as an ornamental throughout the West Indies and in Florida. It has become naturalized in southern Florida (Miami-Dade and Monroe counties). The flattened ultimate branchlets are strikingly leaflike; their correct homology is demonstrated by the cymules of flowers borne along the margins. J. K. Small (1933) referred the Florida plants to Xylophylla angustifolia var. linearis Swartz, but that name is a synonym of P. arbuscula (Swartz) J. F. Gmelin, a West Indian species that also is cultivated in Florida but does not appear to have become naturalized there.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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