Phyllanthus

▪ plant genus

      very large genus of flowering trees, shrubs, and herbs of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) that contains among its 650 species some of ornamental value and others with interesting botanical adaptations. Some have flattened, green stems, called phyllodes, that function as leaves. Whitish flowers cluster along the flattened stems of the West Indian seaside laurel (P. arbuscula). There are similar reddish blooms on P. angustifolius. Other species have deciduous twigs along which small leaves resembling leaflets alternate; the leaflets are shed along with the twig.

      Species best showing this shedding adaptation are sometimes referred to two other genera, Cicca and Emblica, though many less-known Phyllanthus species have the same adaptation. Otaheite gooseberry (P. acidus, or Cicca disticha) is a small Indian tree bearing dangling clusters of light-yellow or green, vertically ribbed, acid-sour fruits, nearly 2 cm (0.8 inch) in diameter; the fruit is used for making preserves. The long, deciduous twigs are lined with rows of sharp-pointed, alternating leaves. Because of its even more feathery leaf-bearing twigs, each with about 100 tiny alternating leaves, the emblic, or myrobalan (P. emblica), gives the impression of a hemlock. Its acid-tasting yellow or reddish fruits are prescribed in traditional Indian medicine as a tonic. The leaves and bark contain tannin, utilized for tanning and as a colour concentrator in dyeing. The dried fruit has been used as ink, hair dye, and detergent. The delicately branched Polynesian shrub, snowbush (Breynia nivosa, formerly P. nivosus), is widely grown in the tropical gardens and as a greenhouse plant in the north for its gracefully slender branches and delicate green and white leaves (pink and red in B. nivosa, variety roseopicta).

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