Phyllanthus tenellus
Phyllanthus niruri
Mascarene Island leaf-flower
gale of the wind
main stems terete, not winged, glabrous or scabridulous; ultimate branchlets subterete, not winged, glabrous or scabridulous.
main stems terete, not winged, glabrous; ultimate branchlets subterete, 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 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, proximal bisexual with 1–2 pistillate flowers and 2–3 staminate flowers, distal with 1 pistillate flower.
cymules or flowers solitary, unisexual, proximal with 3–7 staminate flowers, distal with 1 pistillate flower.
staminate 0.5–1.5 mm, pistillate flexuous, capillary, and pendent in fruit, (2.5–)3–8 mm.
staminate 1.2–1.8 mm, pistillate spreading in fruit, 4–7 mm.
sepals 5, white except green midrib, flat, 0.4–0.7 mm;
nectary extrastaminal, 5 glands;
stamens 5, filaments distinct.
sepals 5(–6), pale green, flat, 1.5–3 mm;
nectary extrastaminal, 5(–6) glands;
stamens 3, filaments connate 1/2 length.
sepals 5, white except green midrib, flat, 0.6–0.8 mm, 1-veined;
nectary annular, unlobed.
sepals 5, green, flat, 3–3.5 mm, pinnately veined;
nectary annular, unlobed.
1.7–1.9 mm diam., smooth.
3.5 mm diam., smooth.
uniformly brown, 0.8–0.9 mm, evenly papillate.
uniformly brown, 1.5–1.8 mm, verrucose.
= 26.
= 26 (Costa Rica).
Phyllanthus tenellus
Phyllanthus niruri
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 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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