Phyllanthus welwitschianus Müll.Arg.

Species

Angiosperms > Malpighiales > Phyllanthaceae > Phyllanthus

Characteristics

Scale leaves 0.Foliage leaves distichous or ± so, often folded up together; petioles 1–2 mm long; stipules 1–4 mm long, linear-lanceolate to subulate, adaxially auriculate, fimbriate-laciniate at the base, dark reddish-brown; leaf blades 0.5–3.5 × 0.3–2.8 cm, suborbicular to elliptic-oblong, rounded or emarginate, sometimes mucronulate, rounded, truncate or shallowly cordate at the base, firmly chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, glabrous on both surfaces, deep blue-green above, paler and glaucous beneath, often reddening; lateral nerves in 6–18 pairs, scarcely or slightly prominent above, more so beneath, often somewhat irregularly looped and branched, tertiary nerves reticulate.
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Male flowers: pedicels 4–6 mm long, slender; sepals 6, very unequal, the 3 outer 2 × 1.2 mm, ovate-lanceolate, strongly concave, hardened, reddish-tinged, the 3 inner 2.5 × 2 mm, broadly ovate-suborbicular, ± flat, soft, petaloid, white to pale yellowish-green; disk glands 6, in 3 pairs opposite the outer sepals, 0.7 mm long, oblong, thick, rugulose; receptacle conical; stamens 3, filaments connate into a column 1.5 mm high; anthers 1 × 0.5 mm, oblong, strongly reflexed, connective thick, fused to the column, thecae obliquely dehiscent.
Female flowers: pedicels 3–6(10) mm long; sepals 6, very unequal, the 3 outer 3.5 × 2 mm, elliptic, somewhat venose, the 3 inner 3 × 2.5–3 mm, ovate-suborbicular, strongly venose, pale yellowish-green with yellow veins, often pink-tinged; disk 2–2.5 mm in diameter, thick, shallowly 6-lobed, the lobes somewhat convoluted and rugulose; ovary 1.5 mm in diameter, sessile, subglobose, smooth; styles 3, 1.2 mm long, thick, fused to c. halfway, somewhat divergent, shortly bifid, the stigmas brownish.
Seeds 3.2–3.4 × 2.6–2.8 × 2.4–2.5 mm, somewhat asymmetrically rounded-segmentiform, pale yellowish-brown, with c. 35 longitudinal rows of minute glistening darker reddish-brown tubercles on the dorsal facet, and c. 30 irregular and rather broken arcs of such tubercles on each ventral facet.
An erect perennial herb or subshrub up to 90 cm tall, dioecious or occasionally monoecious; stems several from a woody rootstock, monomorphic, simple or branched, glabrous or minutely puberulous, reddish-brown.
Male flowers in 2 or more flowered axillary cymules, female flowers solitary or rarely in pairs per axil, rarely accompanied by 1–2 male flowers.
Fruit 4 × 7–8 mm, 3-lobed, shallowly rugulose-venose to ± smooth, pale green, often reddish-tinged.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support -
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality monoecy
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 2.27
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Usually in sand, often locally frequent in the shade of stream side and riverbank vegetation, in riverine forest understorey, on mushitu margins, also in high rainfall miombo, Androstachys forest, in semi-evergreen forest and mixed evergreen forest.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

Uses medicinal
Edible -
Therapeutic use Aphrodisiac (unspecified), Fertility (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Distribution

Phyllanthus welwitschianus world distribution map, present in Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Thailand, Tanzania, United Republic of, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:354864-1
WFO ID wfo-0000272367
COL ID 4H4RS
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Phyllanthus grahamii Phyllanthus nyassae Phyllanthus welwitschianus Phyllanthus beillei Diasperus welwitschianus Phyllanthus stolzianus Phyllanthus welwitschianus var. beillei Phyllanthus welwitschianus var. welwitschianus