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(Last Modified On 3/18/2013)
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(Last Modified On 3/18/2013)
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Genus
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Phyllanthus L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. P1. 981, 1753
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Reference
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Gen. P1. ed. 5, 422, 1754.
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Description
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Trees, shrubs or herbs of very diverse habit; monoecious or subdioecious, much less commonly dioecious; branching unspecialized (twigs then persistent, with spiral or distichous phyllotaxy) or (in many species) axes of two kinds: persistent, with spiral phyllotaxy and without flowers, and deciduous, with distichous phyllotaxy and often floriferous. Leaves usually alternate, entire, varying in size and texture; short-petiolate; stipules deciduous or persistent. Inflorescences usually axillary; flowers solitary or in reduced cymes, in some species cauliflorous or in pseudoterminal thyrses; gamosepalous, 4-6 lobed; apetalous; disc usually present. Staminate flowers with mostly 3-6(2-15) stamens, the filaments free or connate; disc usually cut into segments; pollen grains sometimes spheroidal and 3-colporate but often with other patterns, small, intectate; pistillode absent. Pistillate flowers pedicellate or subsessile; calyx-lobes usually 5 or 6, usually entire; disc entire or cut into segments, rarely absent; carpels usually 3, the ovules 2 per locule, hemi- tropous, the styles free or united, bifid or variously divided or dilated. Fruits usually capsular, ? explosively dehiscent, less commonly baccate or drupaceous, the crustaceous cocci separating from a persistent columella; seeds usually 2 per locule (rarely only 1 developing), the seed-coat dry and crustaceous, smooth or sculptured, the endosperm cartilaginous, the embryo straight or slightly curved.
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Habit
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Trees, shrubs or herbs
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Distribution
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A diversified genus of perhaps 700 species, the majority of these belonging to the Old World.
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Note
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The genus has been subdivided by many authors, but the broad con- cept of Mueller-Argoviensis has been retained by most recent workers. The species may be grouped into about 10 subgenera, of which six are represented in Panama by either wild or cultivated species. The local species fall into two basically differ- ent types: those in subg. Isocladus Webster, with distichous leaves and undifferenti- ated branching, and the other species with deciduous and often floriferous branch- lets; the latter have been designated as having 'Phyllanthoid' branching (Webster, Jour. Arnold Arb. 37: 102-114, 1956). The so-called grosella or Otaheite gooseberry, P. acidus (L.) Skeels, is rather commonly cultivated in Panama and elsewhere in the American tropics. It is closely related to the native P. elsiae Urban but may be distinguished from that and other native species by its drupaceous fruits and the common occurrence of staminodes in the female flower. Both P. acidus and P. elsiae belong to subg. Cicca (L.) Webster, which has perhaps been the most widely recognized of all segregates from Phyllanthus. However, subg. Cicca is related to some African species of subg. Kirganelia (Juss.) Webster, and it seems more convenient there- fore to retain it with Phyllanthus. Various other species of Phyllanthus may be cultivated in Panama, but the only one recorded seems to be P. emblica L., which resembles P. acidus in having drupaceous fruits; but these eventually dehisce, and the plant is easily distinguished from P. acidus by its much smaller linear-oblong leaves.
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Common
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grosella Otaheite gooseberry
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Reference
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Webster, G. L., A monographic study of the West Indian species of Phyllanthus. Jour. Arnold Arb. 37: 91-122, 217-268, 340-359, 1956; 38: 51-80, 170-198, 295-373, 1957; 39: 49-100, 111-212, 1958.
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Key
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a. Monoecious herbs; axes all persistent; leaves distichous, none reduced to scales (subg. Isocladus). b. Seeds minutely verruculose, ca 1 mm long or less; capsules ca 2 mm broad or less. c. Filaments of stamens free; stems terete, at most narrowly winged .................. 1. P. caroliniensis cc. Filaments of stamens united; stems compressed and distinctly winged .................... 2. P. compressus bb. Seeds smooth, 1.5 mm long or more; capsules ca 3 mm broad ....3. P. hyssopifolioides aa. Monoecious or dioecious herbs, shrubs, or trees; leaves on persistent axes reduced to scales, developed leaves and flowers present only on deciduous branchlets. d. Dioecious shrubs or trees; cauliflorous; calyx-lobes and stamens usually 4, carpels usually 3, fruits with 1 or 2 developed cells, each with a single seed, pithy and indehiscent (subg. Cicca) ................................................. 4. P. elsiae dd. Monoecious, habit various, not cauliflorous (flowers axillary on deciduous branchlets); calyx lobes 5 or 6, stamens 3 (seldom 2); carpels usually 3, fruit capsular, dehiscent, each cell with 2 seeds. e. Branchlets pinnatiform; plants woody or herbaceous; pollen grains reticular, colporate (subg. Phyllanthus). f. Leaf-blades hispiduous beneath; 9 flower subsessile; ovary dis- tinctly roughened; seeds transversely ribbed ................................ 5. P. urinaria ff. Leaf-blades smooth; 9 flower definitely pedicellate; ovary smooth or nearly so; seeds striate or verruculose. g. Leaf-blades usually oblique at the base; stipules narrow, 2 mm long or more; 8 calyx-lobes 1.2 mm long or longer; pollen grains 4-colporate; seeds verruculose, 1.4-1.8 mm long ......... 6. P. niruri gg. Leaf-blades not oblique; stipules not over 1.3 mm long; 8 calyx- lobes less than 1 mm long; pollen grains 3-colporate; seeds striate or ribbed, 0.8-1.3 mm long. h. Cymules bisexual (1 8 and 1 9 flower); 9 calyx-lobes narrowly obovate, 1 mm long or less, distinctly pointed at the tip; seeds with usually 5 or 6 distinct ribs ......... 7. P. amarus hh. Cymules unisexual; 9 calyx-lobes broady obovate, rounded at the tip, 1.4 mm long or more (in fruit); seeds with ca 10-12 delicate striae. i. Filaments completely united, staminal column 0.25-0.4 mm high; pistillate disc angled or 5-lobed; seeds 1.1-1.3 mm long; stems sometimes thickened with aerenchyma below, leaves not narrowed towards tip ....... .. 8. P. stipulatus ii. Filaments only partially united, staminal column ca 0.1 mm high; pistillate disc divided into 3 narrow segments; seeds 0.9-1 (-1.1) mm long; stems never thickened with aerenchyma, leaves narrowed towards the tip ........ 9. P. caribaeus ee. Branchlets bipinnatiform; plants woody; pollen grains echinulose (subg. Conami). j. Leaf-blades abruptly caudate-pointed, scabrous-roughened above; pedicel of 9 flower scabridulous, 5-14 mm long; seeds 2.5-2.8 mm long ..................................... 10. P. acum inatus jj. Leaf-blades evenly narrowed to an acute or obtuse tip, smooth; pedicel of 9 flower smooth, 10-15 mm long; seeds 2.2-2.4 mm long ................................ 11. P . anisolobus
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