云桂叶下珠 yun gui ye xia zhu

Epistylium pulchrum Baillon, Étude Euphorb. 648. 1858; Diasperus pulcher (Wallich ex Müller Argoviensis) Kuntze; Phyllanthus asteranthos Croizat.

Shrubs 0.5-1.5 m tall, monoecious, glabrous except for puberulent or ciliate young branches and bracts; stem and branches terete; branches to 40 cm, puberulent. Leaves distichous, 15-30 pairs along each branchlet; stipules triangular-lanceolate, 3-4 × 1.5-2 mm, reddish brown, entire or obscurely serrulate; petiole 0.8-1.5 mm; leaf blade obliquely oblong to ovate-oblong, 1.8-3 × 0.8-1.3 cm, membranous, abaxially gray-green, adaxially green, margins slightly revolute; lateral veins 4-6 pairs, obscure. Inflorescence a bisexual axillary fascicle, usually with several male and 1 female flower, flowers with ciliate bracts at base. Male flowers: pedicels delicate, 5-10 mm; sepals 4, ovate-triangular, 2-3 × 1-2 mm, dark red, margins lacerate; disk glands 4, ± square or reniform, 0.5-0.7 mm wide, flat, membranous; stamens 2; filaments short, connate; anthers longitudinally dehiscent. Female flowers: pedicels filamentous, 15-23 mm; sepals 6, ovate-triangular, 3.5-4 × ca. 1.5 mm, margins lacerate, midrib thicker abaxially; disk disk-shaped, fleshy, surrounding ovary at base, apex 6-lobed; ovary subglobose, smooth, 3-celled; styles 3, spreading, bifid at apex. Fruiting pedicels ca. 2.5 cm; sepals persistent; capsules subglobose, ca. 3 mm in diam., brownish, smooth. Fl. May-Sep, fr. Aug-Nov.

Open forests, riverside scrub; 700-1800 m. Guangxi, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam].