ABOUT PHYLLANTHUS
Botanical Infomation

Botanical name : Phyllanthus niruri Linn Synonyms     : Phyllanthus amarus Common name : Chanca piedra Local name : Dukong anak, dukong-dukong anak, amin buah, rami buah, turi hutan. Family : Euphorbiaceae Distribution : widely throughout the tropics, in Peninsula it occurs near the coasts.

 

Description: Annual herb 50-70 cm high. Herbaceous branches, ascending. Stem often branched at the base, angular. Bark smooth and light green in colour1. Cataphylls subulate, with triangular stipules often turning black2. Deciduous branchlets 4-12 cm long 15-30 leaflets. Leaf-bearing branchlets slender, spreading. Leaflets subssile, elliptic-oblong, 5-11 mm X 3-6 mm, base rounded, apex apiculate, mucronate, entire, glabrous. Stipules ovate-lanceolate3. Flower pale green, often flushed with red, very numerous. Male and female flowers in separate axils, male 1-3, female solitary, male at the lower ones, dehiscence of anthers transverse, 5 disk segments, stamen 2-3, filaments connate, anther free, dehiscing obliquely to horizontally4. Female flowers shortly pedicellate, disk deeply 5-lobed5. Fruit an oblate capsule, 1.8-2.5 mm in diameter, smooth, globose6. Calyx more prominent than those in P.urinaria. 2 smooth seeds in each cell, triangular, with longitudinally ribbed on the back.

References:

1. Anon. Medicinal and poisonous plants. P.392.
2. Ridley. 1924. Flora Malay Peninsula. 3. P. 199.
3. Mock, Warden & Hooper. Pharmacographia Indica Vol. III. P. 265-267.
4. Kirtikar & Basu. 1975. Indian Medicinal Plants. P.2223-2226.