Phyllanthus amarus

[Alok Goyal]

Hallo all 

Can you please guide me to the differences between Phyllanthus amarus and Phyllanthus niruri...

i mean the two are presented at many places interchangeable probably and whatever is present on net is very confusing...

Alok

[Vijayasankar]

Alok ji,

This confusion is widespread, universal and is also not new! Thanks for rekindling!

As far as I know, Phyllanthus niruri L. does not occur in India. It is native to tropical Americas (as per GRIN).

The species reported in several Indian literature (incl. FBI) in the past as P. niruri L. is now correctly known as P. amarus Schum.
The latter species is also originally of American origin, but is widely naturalized in many paleotropical countries, including India.

If you see two different but looking-alike plants in India, then they may be of two different species (P. fraternus, native to India and Pakistan, is often confused with P. amarus).
Please refer to recent studies for more details about species of Phyllanthus in India (given below).

As usual, you can post the pictures of your plants here for id.

Here is a key from Webster's "Revision of Phyllanthus...":

Phyllanthus amarus Schum.: Seeds ribbed or striate, less than 1.5 mm long; fruiting calyx lobes less than
1.5 mm long, midrib unbranched; style branches scarcely capitate.

Phyllanthus niruri L.: Seeds verruculose, 1.5 mm long or more; fruiting calyx lobes more than 1.5 mm
long, pinnately veined; style branches with capitate stigmas.

Suggested readings:
1. Chaudhary, L. B. ; Rao, R. R. (2002) Taxonomic study of herbaceous species of Phyllanthus L. (Euphorbiaceae) in India Phytotaxonomy, 2 . 143- 162. ISSN 0972-4206
2. Webster, Grady L. "A revision of Phyllanthus (Euphorbiaceae) in the continental United States." Brittonia 22.1 (1970): 44-76.

 

Regards 

 

Vijayasankar Raman
National Center for Natural Products Research
University of Mississippi

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[Janani Eswar]

That was very informative! Thank you :)

Janani Eswar

Rooting to Heal

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[P. Chitralekha]

As per my information Phyllanthus niruri is now correctly known as P. fraternus. It has 6 sepals in two whorls (petals are absent). P. amarus has five sepals in one whorl. I have copied below the information sent to me by Dr. Gurcharan Singh some time back. I have also attached some photos of P. amarus growing in JNU campus, Delhi; did not come across any P. fraternus there, whereas in Lodi road, Delhi, I find presence of only  P. fraternus. 

Regards,

Chitralekha

 

Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn., Beskr. Guin. Fl. 421. 1827. Webster in J. Arn. Mb. 38(4): 313.1957.

Phyllanthus niruri var. genuinus Muell. Arg.

Similar to Phyllanthus fraternus, but completely glabrous, foliage-leaves smaller (3-6 x 1.5-3 mm), oblong, ♂ & ♀ flowers occurring together in some axils, sepals of both sexes 5, those of the ♀ flowers acute or subacute and with a broader green midrib and narrower pale margins, ♀ disc 5-lobed, the lobes triangular, with or without 1-2 lateral lobules near the base.

Distribution: Native of Tropical America, but now a pantropical weed; on sandy loam.