Phyllanthus polyphyllus Willd. - EUPHORBIACEAE

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Vernacular names : Malayalam: Karuttunelli

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Botanical descriptions Ecology Distribution Literature

Botanical descriptions :

Habit : Deciduous trees, up to m tall.
Trunk\bark : Bark brownish grey, smooth; blaze greenish.
Branchlets : Young branchlets angular to subterete, glabrous.
Leaves : Leaves simple, alternate, distichous; stipule lateral, persistent; petiole ca. 0.1 cm long, glabrous; lamina 1-1.5 x 0.3-0.5 cm, oblong, apex obtuse with mucronate tip, base asymmetric and truncate, margin thick and revolute, coriaceous, glaucous beneath, glabrous; midrib flat above; secondary_nerves 6-8 pairs; tertiary_nerves brodly reticulate or obscure.
Flowers : Inflorescence axillary cymes or solitary; flowers unisexual, whitish.
Fruit& seed : Capsule, smooth, trilocular, obovoid, purplish black; seeds 6.

Ecology :

Along margin of dry evergreen forests up to 1200 m.

Distribution :

India and Sri Lanka; in the Western_Ghats- Agasthyamalai.

Literature :

Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 586. 1781; Gamble, Fl. Madras 2: 1288. 1993 (re.ed.); Sasidharan, Biodiversity documentation for Kerala- Flowering Plants, part 6: 427. 2004.

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