Phyllanthus leucanthus Pax

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

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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.

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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