Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herbaceous perennial, sometimes becoming woody at the base; stems and herbage glabrous and glaucous; stems erect-ascending, 10-50cm tall, with acuminate, white-clear stipules; mostly monecious but unisexual plants not uncommon.

Leaves: Sprirally arranged, narrowly oblong to obovate, acute or mucronulate at the tip, bases obtusish, 5-10mm long;

Flowers: In unisexual or bisexual axillary cymes with 1 female and/or several male flowers; flowers apetalous; male calyx lobes 6, white, oblong to obovate, 0.7-1.3 mm, stamens 3, filaments connate into a column; female calyx lobes green and herbaceous, acute 1.5-2.5 mm long in fruit; flowering Apr-Nov or throughout the year.

Fruits: Smooth or nearly so, styles spreading or nearly so, bifid with branches subcapitate; capsules oblate, 2.7-3.2 mm in diameter; seeds dark brown.

Ecology: Rocky outcrops, rocky and gravelly soils, usually in limestone; 500-5300 ft (150-1500m).

Distribution: se AZ, s NM, TX, OK, MO, LA, c and n MX.

Notes: This species is relatively easy to recognize by its low growing, perennial habit, light green glaucous foliage, white stipules, axillary flowers, and often pendulous, hemispheric fruits enclosed inside, or in the center of 6 herbaceous calyx lobes and its tendency to grow from rock cracks, in rocky outcrops and in rocky soils in limestone. The family is highly diverse, especially in the tropics. Notably diverse is the genus Phyllanthus, with over 1200 species, including a variety of growth forms including large trees, a striking contrast to the reduced, desert adapted form of this species.

Ethnobotany: Many members of this genus are poisonous, causing liver damage, cyanide poisoning, gastroenteritis and death in some cases, while many other members have been useful in modern and folk medicine to treat a wide variety of diseases including possible uses as antiviral treatments.

Etymology: Phyllanthus derives from the Greek -phyllon-, meaning leaf and -anthos-, meaning flower, likely referring to the female herbaceous calyx. The epithet polygonoides may refer to a resemblence to Polygonum, since the stipules resemble those of some species of that genus.

Synonyms: None

Editor: FSCoburn 2015