Phyllanthus leucanthus Pax

Selected images: Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record View all images (6)

Phyllanthus leucanthus

Photo: Nicholas Wightman
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi, Lusaka Prov.

Phyllanthus leucanthus

Photo: Nicholas Wightman
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi, Lusaka Prov.

Phyllanthus leucanthus

Photo: Nicholas Wightman
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi, Lusaka Prov.

Phyllanthus leucanthus

Photo: Nicholas Wightman
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi, Lusaka Prov.

Phyllanthus leucanthus

Photo: Nicholas Wightman
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi, Lusaka Prov.

Phyllanthus leucanthus

Photo: Nicholas Wightman
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi, Lusaka Prov.

Detailed records: Display species records QDS maps by: Google Maps Point records by Google Maps

Species details: Click on each item to see an explanation of that item (Note: opens a new window)

Synonyms: Phyllanthus eylesii S. Moore
Phyllanthus merripaensis Jean F. Brunel
Common names:
Frequency:
Status: Native
Description:
A scaberulous or glabrous erect monoecious or rarely dioecious annual or perennial herb up to 90 cm tall but usually much less; lead shoots angular; lateral shoots up to 15 cm long, narrowly 2-winged; scale leaves c. 1 mm long, narrowly triangular-lanceolate to subulate; foliage leaves distichous; petioles 0.5–1 mm long; leaf blades 0.5–3.5 × 0.4–1.5 cm, elliptic to oblong, subacute, obtuse or rounded, cuneate or rounded at the base, light to medium green above, paler and somewhat glaucescent or purplish-tinged beneath; male flowers in few-flowered clusters in the lower parts of the lateral shoots, female flowers pendulous and solitary in the upper parts of the lateral shoots; male flowers: pedicels 0.5 mm long; sepals 6, c. 1 × 1 mm, suborbicular-obovate, rounded, cream-coloured with a greenish midrib; female flowers: pedicels 1 mm long, extending to 2 mm in fruit, somewhat flattened; sepals 6, in 2 whorls of 3, 1.5 × 1 mm, accrescent to 3 × 2 mm in fruit, the outer broadly elliptic and rounded to cordate at the base, the inner obovate and attenuate-cuneate at the base, white with a narrow green midrib; fruit 1.8 × 2.8 mm, depressed 3-lobed to subglobose, smooth, olivaceous, enclosed by the persistent sepals; seeds 1.5 × 1.2 × 1 mm, segmentiform, light to dark brown, with 7–9 shallow longitudinal ridges on the dorsal facet, and 6–7 concentric ridges on each ventral facet.
Notes:
Derivation of specific name: leucanthus: white-flowered
Habitat:
Altitude range: (metres)
Flowering time:Jan - Apr
Worldwide distribution: Congo-Brazzavile, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe distribution: N,W,C,E
Growth form(s): Annual.
Endemic status:
Red data list status:
Insects associated with this species:
Spot characters: Display spot characters for this species
Literature:

Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 42.

Radcliffe-Smith, A. (1996). Euphorbiaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(4) Pages 61 - 63.


Other sources of information about Phyllanthus leucanthus:

Our websites:

Flora of Malawi: Phyllanthus leucanthus
Flora of Mozambique: Phyllanthus leucanthus
Flora of Zambia: Phyllanthus leucanthus

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Phyllanthus leucanthus
African Plant Database: Phyllanthus leucanthus
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Phyllanthus leucanthus
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Phyllanthus leucanthus
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Phyllanthus leucanthus
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Phyllanthus leucanthus
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Phyllanthus leucanthus
JSTOR Plant Science: Phyllanthus leucanthus
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Phyllanthus leucanthus
Plants of the World Online: Phyllanthus leucanthus
Tropicos: Phyllanthus leucanthus
Wikipedia: Phyllanthus leucanthus


Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Phyllanthus leucanthus.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=134210, retrieved 3 December 2024

Site software last modified: 21 September 2024 11:16am (GMT +2)
Terms of use