Phyllanthus reticulatus Poiret
Family
Euphorbiaceae
Synonyms
Phyllanthus microcarpus (Benth.) Muell. Arg., Phyllanthus dalbergioides Wallich ex J.J. Smith, Phyllanthus erythrocarpus Ridley.
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia |
Kayu darah belut, tampal besi. |
| English | Phyllanthus, seaside laurel. |
| Indonesia | Congcong belut, trembilu (Javanese), wawulutan (Sundanese). |
| Philippines |
Malatinta (Tagalog), matang-buiud (Bikol), sungot-olang (Bisaya). |
| Cambodia | Prâpéénh chhmôôl. |
| Laos | Am ai2, kang2pa. |
| Thailand | Kaang plaa khruea (General), mat kham (Northern), am aai (Eastern). |
| Vietnam | Ph[ef]n den, c[aa]y n[oox]. |
| French |
Phyllanthe, bois à enivrer, bois de gaulettes. |
Geographical Distributions
Phyllanthus reticulatus is widespread in the Old World tropics, from tropical Africa to Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Indo-China, southern China, Thailand and throughout the Malesian region towards northern Australia (Queensland); it has been introduced into the West Indies.
Description
Phyllanthus reticulatus is a monoecious, smooth to hairy, bushy shrub or small tree that is up to 5(- 18) m tall with disagreeable scent. It has a rough bark, brown or grey, lance-shaped cataphylls and with triangular stipules. The deciduous branchlets are steeply ascending, (8.5-)10-20(-25) cm long and with (10-)13-20(-25) leaves.
The leaves are elliptical to elliptical-ovate or elliptical-obovate, 10-50 mm x 5-27 mm, wedge-shaped to rounded at base, obtuse to emarginate apex, short petiolate and lance-shaped stipules. The cymules are usually axillary or sometimes on leafless shoots and resembling a raceme, usually bisexual and composed of 1(-2) female flowers and up to 8 male ones.
The flowers are with 5-6 sepal lobes and 5(-6) disk segments. There are 5-6 stamens in male flowers, in two sets, which, one is with longer filaments fused into a central column and another is shorter, free filaments, free anthers and longitudinally dehiscing. The female flowers are on a slender pedicel, bifid styles and free but connivent over the top of the ovary.
The fruit is a berry, spherical or oblate, 4-6 mm in diametre, smooth and blueish-black when ripe. The seeds are nearly smooth.
Ecology / Cultivation
Phyllanthus reticulatus is a variable and weedy species of secondary vegetation, mixed evergreen forest, scrub and hedges, frequently along watercourses, up to 1000 m altitude while in India is up to 2000 m.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No.12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1.
