Phyllanthus reticulatus Poir.
P. multiflorus Willd. (nom illeg.), Anisonema reticulatum (Poir.) A.Juss., Cicca reticulata (Poir.) Kurz, Diasperus reticulatus (Poir.) Kuntze, Kirganelia reticulata (Poir.) Baill., Melanthesa oblongifolia Oken.
Eng.: Potato plant, roast potato plant
Shrub or small tree, monoecious, deciduous, up to 3(4.5) m in height, very ramose, ± climbing. Bark rugose, light grey to brown or somewhat reddish. Young branches solitary or in fascicles, greenish, pubescent at first, eventually glabrescent. Leaves seemingly pinnate, alternate along long, thin branches; (0.5)3.1(6.5) × (0.5)1.2(2.7) cm, entire, oblong to oval or obovate-elliptical, with rounded ends, rarely acute and cuneate, green and pubescent on both sides, with 6-9 pairs of veins prominent on the underside. Stipules (1-2 mm long) lanceolate. Petiole 2-6 mm. Inflorescence in axillary racemes, shorter than the leaves, with 1 female flower and 2-6 male flowers, rarely solitary flowers. Flowers pentamerous or hexamerous. Male flowers with pedicels 2-4 mm, with subequal sepals 1-1.3 × 0.7-1 mm, oval-elliptic, whitish with a green longitudinally central portion; (2)3 internal stamens, fused at least at the base, plus 2(4) external stamens free. Female flowers with slightly shorter pedicels and with similar sepals; subglobose ovary c. 1 mm, with (3)4-8 loculi. Fruit a subglobose berry, longer than wide (2.4-4 × 4-7 mm), first green, turning red and finally bluish-black, with 8-16 ovoid seeds with a smooth and bright reddish surface.
Flowering:
No data for this region
Fruiting:
No data for this region
Habitat:
Forests, savannahs, thickets, rocky outcrops, etc. Seems to be indifferent to the substrate, in warm, semiarid to humid environments.
Distribution:
In tropical areas of the Old World, however recent studies indicate that this is an exclusively Asian species (Luo et al. 2011), behaving as an invasive in Africa and the Caribbean. In Africa it is distributed mainly in eastern tropical and subtropical areas, reaching towards the N up to high and rocky areas of the Jebel Elba.
Observations:
Given the isolation of the upper parts of the Jebel Elba, it seems strange that the presence of this species here is not natural. There is in the territory a further species of a decent size but not too woody: P. maderaspatensis L. (Ara.: Ayoeit), generally a herbaceous plant but can have stems with a lignified base and sometimes reaching up to 1 m in height (although usually in the territory it does not exceed 0.5 m). It differs by its narrower leaves, linear to oblanceolate (0.5-2(5) × 0.2-0.7 cm), spirally arranged, and fruit a subglobose capsule, orange when mature, about 3 mm in diameter. It grows in a large area that includes most of the tropical and subtropical parts of Africa and Asia, reaching from the SE to northern Australia. In North Africa it is present in all countries of the Sahel, reaching from the NE up to the Jebel Elba.
Conservation status:
Relatively common and widely distributed species. They are not considered threatened at a global level but in North Africa they are species with a small distribution and with very few specimens. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the Red List of vascular plants of Egypt (Flora Aegyptiaca Vol 1, 2000) P. reticulatus is listed as “Indeterminate”.