Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Dicotyledon Literature for Phyllanthus debilis
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999.
   Phyllanthaceae Bibliography
      Phyllanthus debilis

Common name(s): niruri
General Information
DistributionProbably native to southern India and Sri Lanka.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i.
















Habit
Monoecious, erect annual herbs 0.1-0.8 m tall; stems often branching with age, branching phyllanthoid, the branches 4-10(-12) cm long, usually with 15-35 leaves.
Leaves
Leaves narrowly elliptic, (6-)8-21 mm long, 2.5-5 mm wide, petioles 0.3-1 mm long, stipules lanceolate, 0.9-1.2 mm long.
Flowers
Staminate flowers 3-4 in racemose cymes arising in the first 2-4 nodes of the branches, pedicels less than 0.5 mm long, calyx 6-lobed, 0.5-0.6 mm long, nectary disk 6-lobed, stamens 3, filaments connate; pistillate flowers solitary in the nodes above staminate flowers, pedicels becoming 1.1-1.6 mm long, calyx lobes 6, (1-)1.2-1.5 mm long, margins whitish and scarious, nectary disk shallowly 6-lobed, styles distinct, bifid.
Fruit
Capsules depressed-globose, ca. 2-2.2 mm in diameter, the surface smooth, explosively dehiscent.
Seeds
Seeds pale yellowish brown, angled, ca. 1-1.1 mm long, with 6-7 longitudinal ribs and fine transverse striations on back.
Chromosomes
2n = 14, 24, 26, 28