茎花算盘子 jing hua suan pan zi

Phyllanthus ramiflorus (J. R. Forster & G. Forster) Müller Argoviensis.

Shrubs or treelets 1-6 m tall, monoecious; branches gray; branchlets green at apex, usually purplish in lower 1/2, glabrous. Stipules broadly triangular, midrib elevated abaxially; petiole 4-5 mm, glabrous; leaf blade oblong, elliptic to oblong-ovate, 10-15 × 4-5 cm, papery, dark green adaxially, green abaxially, brown-black when dry, glabrous on both surfaces, base obtuse, apex caudate-acuminate; midvein elevated on both surfaces, lateral veins 6-9 pairs. Flowers yellowish, in axillary clusters, 4-9 flowers per cluster, branchlets with proximal clusters male, distal clusters female, sometimes male and female mixed. Male flowers: pedicels 4-6 mm, glabrous; sepals 6, biseriate, broadly ovate, ca. 2 × 1.2 mm, glabrous; stamens 3, connate into a cylinder. Female flowers: pedicels short; sepals as in male, but smaller, ca. 1 × 0.7 mm; ovary ovoid, 5- or 6-locular, glabrous. Capsules depressed globose, ca. 6 mm in diam., 10-12-grooved. Fl. Apr-Jun, Aug-Dec, fr. Jul-Feb.

Cultivated for medicine. C Guangdong [native to Fiji].

The leaves are used as a contraceptive.