#Phyllanthaceae
LightNews LightNews
scottzona.bsky.social
More #Phyllanthaceae strangeness! Many species of Phyllanthus are hyperaccumulators of nickel (meaning they store Ni in their tissues at concentrations very much greater than those of the surrounding soils).
amor-plantonico.bsky.social O Tino Quintela @amor-plantonico.bsky.social · Nov 14
In that case, let me share with you my own photos of two Phyllanthus from Borneo that are nickel hyperaccumulators: a branch of Phyllanthus balgooyi (with a detail of its fruits), and a flowering branch of Phyllanthus rufuschaneyi with male flowers (pedunculate) and female flowers (sessile).
Detail photo of the lower side of a phyllanthoid branch of Phyllanthus balgooyi. The falcate leaves are disposed in two rows along the branch. Three fruits (capsules) with different degree of ripeness are attached to the branch. Detail photo of the lower side of a phyllanthoid branch of Phyllanthus rufuschaneyi. The leaves are lanceolate and disposed in two rows along the branch. Two or three male flowers (pedunculate) and one female flower (sessile) are connected to each leaf axil along the branch.
November 14, 2025 at 2:14 PM
scottzona.bsky.social
Phyllanthus has what is called “phyllanthoid branching”: Orthotropic (erect) shoots with spirally arranged leaves & plagiotropic (horizontal) branches with distichous leaves. Guam’s P. saffordii shows the dimorphism. 📷: Lauren Gutierrez CCBYND2. #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Photo with POV looking down onto a shoot that has spirally arranged branches that look like pinnately compound leaves. Smaller, emerging branches look like emerging, expanding leaves.
November 11, 2025 at 12:30 PM
scottzona.bsky.social
Phyllanthoid branching evolved only once but has been lost several times. Some species have kept the branching but ditched the leaves. Phyllanthus angustifolius of the Antilles has cladodes (flattened, photosynthetic branches). #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Photo of a flattened, paddle-shaped, green stem with marginal pink flowers. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.
November 12, 2025 at 4:53 PM
scottzona.bsky.social
Here’s Phyllanthus fluitans, a floating aquatic species from southern Mexico and northern South America. I expected this to be a pantropical aquatic weed, but I see it’s escaped only in Florida (of course 😒). 📷: Eric Hunt CCBYNCND2 #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Photo of a floating plant with shoots producing rounded leaves.
November 13, 2025 at 11:18 AM
scottzona.bsky.social
Phyllanthus emblica produces edible fruits. They are greenish, about the size of ping-pong balls & have firm, crisp flesh around a single large seed. Dried fruits are available in large Asian groceries in my area. 📷: Vijay Anand Ismavel CCBYNC2. #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Photo of a woody shoot and clusters of globose, greenish fruits.
November 15, 2025 at 11:09 AM
scottzona.bsky.social
Phyllanthus was once treated as yet another odd Euphorbiaceae. The unisexual flower & 3-part stigma fit, but they’re plesiomorphic*. We now place it in its own family, not esp. close to Euphorbiaceae. 📷: P. calycinus Philip Bouchard CCBYNCND2 #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
1/3
Close-up photo of the unisexual flowers. These have six greenish white petals and a gynoecium of three fused carpels and three bifurcate stigmas.
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 PM
florabrasil.bsky.social
Taxonomia
Reino: Plantae
Filo: Tracheophyta
Classe: Magnoliopsida
Ordem: Malpighiales
Família: Phyllanthaceae
Gênero: Phyllanthus

366 registros no Brasil · 11.609 no mundo
Fonte: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/166757
Mascarene Island leaf-flower (Phyllanthus tenellus)
Phyllanthus tenellus is a herbaceous plant in the leafflower family, Phyllanthaceae. It is commonly called Mascarene Island leaf flower as it is native to the Mascarene Islands. It is often a weed in ...
www.inaturalist.org
August 23, 2026 at 8:49 PM
scottzona.bsky.social
Phyllanthus unifoliatus doesn’t have the Phyllanthus branching. The name suggests that this species, unlike others, is unifoliolate, but of course, all Phyllanthus have simple, not compound, leaves. This one is from New Caledonia. #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Photo of leafy shoots with large, ovate leaves. The shoots do not resemble pinnately compound leaves. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.
November 14, 2025 at 11:22 AM
scottzona.bsky.social
If you weren’t paying attention, you might mistake Phyllanthus myriophyllus, of Haiti, for a plant with bipinnate compound leaves, something like a young Delonix regia (Fabaceae). Remember, those are branches, not compound leaves. #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Photo of a small plant with an upright, primary axis and many secondary branches and tertiary branches that look like bipinnately compound leaves. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.
November 12, 2025 at 12:30 PM
scottzona.bsky.social
Phyllanthoid branching looks so much like pinnately compound leaves that even botanists can’t help but notice. Case in point: This is Phyllanthus juglandifolius. As the name suggests, the branches look like the leaves of walnut (Juglans spp.). #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Photo of a small plant with an upright, primary axis and many lateral branches that look like pinnately compound leaves. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.
November 11, 2025 at 4:58 PM
bionomia.net
Hugh Shaw MacKee https://bionomia.net/Q21519729 collected the holotype PHYLLANTHACEAE: Phyllanthus cherrieri M.Schmid in New Caledonia https://gbif.org/occurrence/438296805 #TypeSpecimenToday
Image of the holotype PHYLLANTHACEAE: Phyllanthus cherrieri M.Schmid. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
November 30, 2024 at 8:30 AM
scottzona.bsky.social
I spend too much time pulling this annual weed from my garden in autumn: It’s Phyllanthus urinaria. At 1st glance, it looks like a single stem with pinnately compound leaves. Look again. The axillary flowers & fruits prove these “leaves” are branches. #Phyllanthaceae #TropicalBotany #Botany 🌾🧪🌱
Photo of a small, herbaceous plant with short, indeterminate branches bearing small, elliptical leaves. The branches look like pinnately compound leaves. Small, green fruits dangle in the leaf axils, so we know these are leaves, not leaflets. Photo by Scott Zona CC BY-NC 2.0.
November 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM
ringstem.bsky.social
Outside of Phyllanthaceae, what else has phyllanthoid branching?
November 11, 2025 at 6:22 PM
braydophyte.bsky.social
Phyllanthus warnockii (syn Reverchonia warnockii)
The Sand Reverchonia is endemic to quartz sand Dunes found in the Southwestern US.
I found these at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Utah

#phyllanthuswarnockii #phyllanthaceae #utahflora ##utahbotany #Utahnativeplants #plantsofutah #desertflora
January 25, 2025 at 6:36 PM
amor-plantonico.bsky.social
Hi, Scott! I love that you are talking about Phyllanthaceae this week. Are you going to mention any of the nickel hyperaccumulators in this plant family?
November 12, 2025 at 9:13 AM
plazi-species.bsky.social
#NewSpecies
Breynia phongquangensis
A newly discovered #phyllanthaceae from #vietnam!

Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/8407D939-...
Publication: doi.org/10.3897/phyt...
#PhytoKeys #BreyniaPhongquangensis

#FAIRdata
#OA #ecology #taxonomy #biodiversity #conservation #botany #flora #flowers #plants
Breynia phongquangensis, staminate flower viewed from the side.
May 29, 2026 at 10:46 AM
florabrasil.bsky.social
Taxonomia
Reino: Plantae
Filo: Tracheophyta
Classe: Magnoliopsida
Ordem: Malpighiales
Família: Phyllanthaceae
Gênero: Phyllanthus

371 registros no Brasil · 11.758 no mundo
Fonte: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/166757
Mascarene Island leaf-flower (Phyllanthus tenellus)
Phyllanthus tenellus is a herbaceous plant in the leafflower family, Phyllanthaceae. It is commonly called Mascarene Island leaf flower as it is native to the Mascarene Islands. It is often a weed in ...
www.inaturalist.org
September 16, 2026 at 12:42 PM
bionomia.net
Henry Nicholas Ridley https://bionomia.net/Q733709 collected the holotype PHYLLANTHACEAE: Antidesma montanum var. montanum https://gbif.org/occurrence/925146780 #TypeSpecimenToday
Image of the holotype PHYLLANTHACEAE: Antidesma montanum var. montanum. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
October 20, 2025 at 8:30 AM
nafnlaus.bsky.social
Again, you need to be clear, because these are entirely different families :) This is genus Phyllanthus, in family Phyllanthaceae, order Malpighiales, clade Rosids. What you call gooseberries is genus Ribes, family Grossulariaceae, order Saxifragales. Very, very different plants :)
July 12, 2025 at 10:55 PM
anschmidtlebuhn.bsky.social
The second is awarded to Jeremy Bruhl, emeritus professor at UNE. He is an expert in, among other taxa, Cyperaceae and Phyllanthaceae. The two recipients are giving a shared presentation, reflecting their close collaboration over many years. #asbs2025
November 4, 2025 at 10:14 PM
bionomia.net
Leonard John Brass https://bionomia.net/Q6525437 collected the holotype PHYLLANTHACEAE: Glochidion pomiferum in Papua New Guinea https://gbif.org/occurrence/912714643 #TypeSpecimenToday
Image of the holotype PHYLLANTHACEAE: Glochidion pomiferum. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
October 9, 2024 at 8:30 AM
amor-plantonico.bsky.social
E acabo este fio com várias imagens para vos apresentar algumhas das plantas #hiperacumuladoras de níquel que som endémicas deste outeiro de #Lompoyou em #Sabah: /Rinorea linearifolia/, /Actephila alanbakeri/ e /Emblica rufuschaneyi/. Até breve!
Foto de rama de /Rinorea linearifolia/ (Violaceae) com as suas características folhas estreitas e alongadas. Também se miram vários froitos (cápsulas globosas loculicidas) em maduraçom. Foto de rama com folhas novas de /Actephila alanbakeri/ (Phyllanthaceae) com as sua característica cor rosa. Foto detalhe das minúsculas flores de /Actephila alanbakeri/ (Phyllanthaceae), o meu dedo ao lado para perceber a escala. Foto detalhe de rama de /Emblica rufuschaneyi/ (Phyllanthaceae) com as suas flores femininas sem pedúnculo pegadas à rama e as flores masculinas penduradas dum longo pedúnculo.
April 1, 2025 at 2:02 PM
isyeb.mnhn.fr
"Two new species of Caloptilia (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) from New Caledonia inducing galls on Glochidion billardierei (Phyllanthaceae) and redescription of C.xanthopharella (Meyrick, 1880)"
Guiguet, A., @isyeb.mnhn.fr et al.
👉 doi.org/10.3897/zook...
En savoir +
👉 isyeb.mnhn.fr/fr/actualite...
Des chenilles à la stratégie d’évacuation des déchets inédite découvertes en Nouvelle-Calédonie
isyeb.mnhn.fr
February 12, 2026 at 12:33 PM
florabrasil.bsky.social
Taxonomia
Reino: Plantae
Filo: Tracheophyta
Classe: Magnoliopsida
Ordem: Malpighiales
Família: Phyllanthaceae
Gênero: Phyllanthus

286 registros no Brasil · 3.369 no mundo
Fonte: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/166755
stone breaker tea (Phyllanthus niruri)
Phyllanthus niruri is a widespread tropical plant commonly found in coastal areas, known by the common names gale of the wind, stonebreaker or seed-under-leaf. It is a relative of the spurges, belongi...
www.inaturalist.org
August 9, 2026 at 5:40 AM