Phyllanthus | |
---|---|
Phyllanthus mirabilis | |
Phyllanthus fluitans | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malpighiales |
Family: | Phyllanthaceae |
Subfamily: | Phyllanthoideae |
Tribe: | Phyllantheae |
Genus: | Phyllanthus L. |
Diversity | |
About 800 species | |
Synonyms [1] | |
List
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Phyllanthus is the largest genus in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. Estimates of the number of species in this genus vary widely, from 750 [2] to 1200. [3] 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. [4] Phyllanthus is distributed in all tropical and subtropical regions on Earth.
Phyllanthus was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, [5] [6] but the type was not designated. [5]
The circumscription of this genus has been a cause of much confusion and disagreement. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that Phyllanthus is paraphyletic over Reverchonia, Glochidion , Sauropus , and Breynia. A 2006 revision of the family Phyllanthaceae has subsumed all four of these genera into Phyllanthus. [7] This enlarged version of Phyllanthus might eventually be divided into smaller genera, [8] [9] including 32 Chinese (and northern Indochinese) species. [10] A complete overhaul of the genus, including a new classification is currently underway, following a recent indepth molecular treatment of major groups included. [11]
Two fossil seeds of a Phyllanthus species have been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland. The seeds are similar to seeds of the fossil species †Phyllanthus triquetra and †Phyllanthus compassica from the Oligocene and Miocene of West Siberia. Phyllanthus fossils are known from several Miocene and Pliocene sites in Poland. [15]
Phyllanthus are of note in the fields of pollination biology and coevolution because some but not all species in the genus have a specialized mutualism with moths in the genus Epicephala (leafflower moths), in which the moths actively pollinate the flowers. While ensuring that the tree may produce viable seeds, the moths also lay eggs in the flowers' ovaries where their larvae consume a subset of the developing seeds as nourishment. [16] [17] Other species of Epicephala are pollinators of certain species of plants in the genera Glochidion [18] [19] and Breynia , [20] [21] both of which are phylogenetically nested within Phyllanthus. [22]
Particularly for its content of tannins, P. emblica fruit has a history of use in traditional medicine and is under study for its potential biological properties. [23] Leaves, roots, stem, bark and berries of this genus contain lignans and other phytochemicals. [24] [25] [26]
Phyllanthaceae is a family of flowering plants in the eudicot order Malpighiales. It is most closely related to the family Picrodendraceae.
Bischofia is a genus of plants in the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1827. It is native to southern China, the Indian Subcontinent, Queensland, New Guinea, and various islands of the Pacific. It is the only member of the tribe Bischofieae. They are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, but may rarely be monoecious.
Leptonema is a genus of flowering plant belonging to the family Phyllanthaceae first described in 1824. The entire genus is endemic to Madagascar. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.
Thecacoris is a genus of flowering plant belonging to the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1821. It is native to tropical Africa and Madagascar. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, although it may rarely be monoecious.
Baccaurea is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Phyllanthaceae. The genus comprises 51 species, distributed from India to Indochina, southern China, Malesia, New Guinea, and the West Pacific. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. Many species contain edible fruits.
Nothobaccaurea is a genus of flowering plant belonging to the family Phyllanthaceae, first described as a genus in 2000. It is native to various islands in the Pacific. The genus is named for its false resemblance with Baccaurea. Like Baccaurea, it is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.
Andrachne is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is one of eight genera in the tribe Poranthereae.
Breynia is a genus in the flowering plant family Phyllanthaceae, first described in 1776. It is native to Southeast Asia, China, Réunion, the Indian Subcontinent, Papuasia and Australia.
Glochidion is a genus of flowering plants, of the family Phyllanthaceae, known as cheese trees or buttonwood in Australia, and leafflower trees in the scientific literature. It comprises about 300 species, distributed from Madagascar to the Pacific Islands. Glochidion species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Aenetus eximia and Endoclita damor. The Nicobarese people have attested to the medicinal properties found in G. calocarpum, saying that its bark and seed are most effective in curing abdominal disorders associated with amoebiasis.
Gonatogyne is a genus of plants in the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1873. It contains only one known species, Gonatogyne brasiliensis, endemic to southeastern Brazil. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.
Lachnostylis is a genus of the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1846. It is native to the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape Provinces of South Africa. It is often included in Savia. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.
Breynia oblongifolia, commonly known as coffee bush, grows naturally in Australia and New Guinea as shrubs up to 3 m (10 ft) in height. The species produces alternate, distichous, ovate leaves 20–30 mm (0.8–1.2 in) long by 10–20 mm (0.4–0.8 in) wide. Small, green flowers are produced in spring and summer, and these are followed by orange or pink berries about 6 mm (0.24 in) diameter that turn black when fully ripe.
Poranthereae is a tribe in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. It is one of ten tribes in the family, and one of four tribes in the subfamily Phyllanthoideae. Poranthereae comprises about 111 species, distributed into eight genera. The largest genera and the number of species in each are Actephila (31), Meineckia (30), and Andrachne (22).
Epicephala is a genus of moths in the family Gracillariidae.
Breynia vitis-idaea, the officinal breynia, is a perennial tree-like species of Phyllanthaceae, found from India east to Taiwan and Okinawa and south to Indonesia. It is a shrub or treelet with egg-shaped leaves that can reach up to 3 m tall. It has staminate flowers and spherical, red fruit.
Breynia disticha is a plant in the family Phyllanthaceae, first described in 1776. It is native to New Caledonia and Vanuatu in the western Pacific, but naturalized on a wide assortment of other islands around the world, as well as in the U.S. state of Florida.
Breynia cernua grows naturally in Australia and Malesia as a shrub up to 2 m (7 ft) in height.
Phyllanthus reticulatus is a plant species described Jean Louis Marie Poiret; it is included in the family Phyllanthaceae.