Phyllanthus tenellus
Phyllanthus pentaphyllus
Mascarene Island leaf-flower
fivepetal leaf-flower
main stems terete, not winged, glabrous or scabridulous; ultimate branchlets subterete, not winged, glabrous or scabridulous.
main stems and ultimate branchlets terete, not winged, usually glabrous, rarely scabridulous.
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 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, proximal bisexual with 1–2 pistillate flowers and 2–3 staminate flowers, distal with 1 pistillate flower.
cymules or flowers solitary, unisexual, staminate distributed along branchlet, with (10–)15–20 flowers, pistillate distributed along branchlet or distal, with 1 flower.
staminate 0.5–1.5 mm, pistillate flexuous, capillary, and pendent in fruit, (2.5–)3–8 mm.
staminate 0.3–0.8 mm, pistillate spreading in fruit, (1–)1.2–1.8(–2.1) mm.
sepals 5, white except green midrib, flat, 0.4–0.7 mm;
nectary extrastaminal, 5 glands;
stamens 5, filaments distinct.
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, white except green midrib, flat, 0.6–0.8 mm, 1-veined;
nectary annular, unlobed.
sepals 5, green with broad white margins, flat, (0.7–)0.9–1.2 mm, obscurely veined;
nectary annular, 5-lobed.
1.7–1.9 mm diam., smooth.
1.7–1.9 mm diam., smooth.
uniformly brown, 0.8–0.9 mm, evenly papillate.
uniformly brown, 0.8–0.9 mm, longitudinally ribbed.
= 26.
= 52.
Phyllanthus tenellus
Phyllanthus pentaphyllus
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.)
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.)
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