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Phyllanthus
Phyllanthus is the largest genus in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. Estimates of the number of species in this genus vary widely, from 750 to 1200. Phyllanthus has a remarkable diversity of growth forms including annual and perennial herbs, shrubs, climbers, floating aquatics, and pachycaulous succulents. Some have flattened leaflike stems called cladodes. It has a wide variety of floral morphologies and chromosome numbers and has one of the widest range of pollen types of any seed plant genus.
Despite their variety, almost all Phyllanthus species express a specific type of growth called "phyllanthoid branching" in which the vertical stems bear deciduous, floriferous (flower-bearing), plagiotropic (horizontal or oblique) stems. The leaves on the main (vertical) axes are reduced to scales called "cataphylls", while leaves on the other axes develop normally. Phyllanthus is distributed in all tropical and subtropical regions on Earth.
60 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Chamberbitter
speciesPhyllanthus urinaria
Mascarene Island leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus tenellus
Potato-smell
speciesPhyllanthus reticulatus
Gale of the Wind
speciesPhyllanthus amarus
Smartweed Leafflower
speciesPhyllanthus polygonoides
stone breaker tea
speciesPhyllanthus niruri
Myrobalan
speciesPhyllanthus emblica
Myrtle-leaved Leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus myrtifolius
Tahitian gooseberry tree
speciesPhyllanthus acidus
Frail leafflower
speciesPhyllanthus debilis
Thyme Spurge
speciesPhyllanthus hirtellus
False Boronia
speciesPhyllanthus calycinus
Carolina leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus caroliniensis
Seed-under-leaf
speciesPhyllanthus virgatus
scrubby spurge
speciesPhyllanthus gunnii
Tipsy-wood
speciesPhyllanthus cochinchinensis
Madras leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus maderaspatensis
Drummond's leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus abnormis
swordbush
speciesPhyllanthus epiphyllanthus
Phyllanthus salviifolius
speciesPhyllanthus salviifolius
Phyllanthus parvulus
speciesPhyllanthus parvulus
Brush Sauropus
speciesPhyllanthus microcladus
White Leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus leucanthus
Phyllanthus sellowianus
speciesPhyllanthus sellowianus
Duppy Bush
speciesPhyllanthus angustifolius
Phyllanthus ussuriensis
speciesPhyllanthus ussuriensis
five-petal leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus pentaphyllus
Sand Leaf-Flower
speciesPhyllanthus warnockii
Tropical leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus pulcher
Phyllanthus mimosoides
speciesPhyllanthus mimosoides
Phyllanthus chacoensis
speciesPhyllanthus chacoensis
Safford's leafflower
speciesPhyllanthus saffordii
Sand Spurge
speciesPhyllanthus fuernrohrii
Phyllanthus rotundifolius
speciesPhyllanthus rotundifolius
Phyllanthus occidentalis
speciesPhyllanthus occidentalis
Glochidion marianum
speciesPhyllanthus mariannensis
birdseed leaf-flower
speciesPhyllanthus evanescens
Phyllanthus phillyreifolius
speciesPhyllanthus phillyreifolius
forest phyllanthus
speciesPhyllanthus similis
Phyllanthus klotzschianus
speciesPhyllanthus klotzschianus
Phyllanthus cuneifolius
speciesPhyllanthus cuneifolius
Lebombo Potatobush
speciesPhyllanthus pinnatus
red root floater
speciesPhyllanthus fluitans
Phyllanthus orbiculatus
speciesPhyllanthus orbiculatus
Phyllanthus botryanthus
speciesPhyllanthus botryanthus
Phyllanthus casticum
speciesPhyllanthus casticum
Phyllanthus stipulatus
speciesPhyllanthus stipulatus
Phyllanthus liebmannianus
speciesPhyllanthus liebmannianus
Phyllanthus elsiae
speciesPhyllanthus elsiae
Phyllanthus glaucophyllus
speciesPhyllanthus glaucophyllus
Phyllanthus pentandrus
speciesPhyllanthus pentandrus
Phyllanthus juglandifolius
speciesPhyllanthus juglandifolius
Phyllanthus grandifolius
speciesPhyllanthus grandifolius
Phyllanthus novae-hollandiae
speciesPhyllanthus novae-hollandiae
Phyllanthus carpentariae
speciesPhyllanthus carpentariae
Phyllanthus lamprophyllus
speciesPhyllanthus lamprophyllus
Phyllanthus cuscutiflorus
speciesPhyllanthus cuscutiflorus
rockspurge
speciesPhyllanthus saxosus
Jamaican gooseberry tree
speciesPhyllanthus acuminatus
gulf leafflower
speciesPhyllanthus fraternus
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
Garden of Malabar, Vol. 1
Hendrik van Rheede · 1683 · p.125
Jan Moninckx; Maria Moninckx — Moninckx Atlas, vol. 5 (1686)
Jan Moninckx; Maria Moninckx · 1686 · p.26
The Natural History of Carolina Florida and Bahama Islands Vol. 2
Mark Catesby · 1743 · p.85
Christoph Jakob Trew — Uitgezochte planten (1771)
Christoph Jakob Trew · 1771 · p.255
Illustrated Compendium of Materia Medica (Vol. 15)
吳其濬 · 1848 · p.100
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Phyllanthus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 68702.