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Phyllanthus leucanthus
Selected images: Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record View all images (6)
Habitat habit
Fallow grassland
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi
Jan 2023
Photo: Nick Wightman
Habitat lateral shoot
Fallow grassland
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi
Jan 2023
Photo: Nick Wightman
Habitat flowers and fruits
Fallow grassland
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi
Jan 2023
Photo: Nick Wightman
Flower dissections
Fallow grassland
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi
Jan 2023
Photo: Nick Wightman
Flower sections
Fallow grassland
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi
Jan 2023
Photo: Nick Wightman
Lateral shoot with leaves and flowers
Fallow grassland
Dabuyu Farms, Lilayi
Jan 2023
Photo: Nick Wightman
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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: | Locally common |
| 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. |
| Type location: |
Tanzania |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | leucanthus: white-flowered |
| Habitat: | In shady places in dense riverine and lakeshore vegetation, high rainfall miombo woodlands, evergreen forest margins, grasslands (dambos, plateau, submontane) as well as in disturbed and cultivated ground. |
| Altitude range: | 520 - 1645 m |
| Flowering time: | Jan - Apr |
| Worldwide distribution: | Congo-Brazzavile, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe |
| Zambian distribution (Flora Zambesiaca): | N,W,C,S |
| Zambian distribution (Provinces): | Cb,Mc,Lk,S |
| Growth form(s): | Annual. |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Content last updated: | Thursday 2 March 2023 |
| 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 leucanthusFlora of Mozambique: Phyllanthus leucanthus
Flora of Zimbabwe: Phyllanthus leucanthus
External websites:
African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Phyllanthus leucanthusAfrican 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
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