Phyllanthus amarus (PROSEA)

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Plant Resources of South-East Asia
Introduction
List of species


1, plant habit; 2, cataphyll and stipules; 3, leaves and inflorescences; 4, male flower; 5, female flower; 6, fruit; 7, seed (Achmad Satiri Nurhaman)

Phyllanthus amarus Schum.

Protologue: Kongel. Danske Vidensk. Selslk. Skr., Naturvidensk. Math. Afh. 4: 195 (1829).

Synonyms

  • Phyllanthus swarzii Kostel. (1836),
  • Phyllanthus nanus Hook.f. (1887),
  • Phyllanthus niruri auct. non L.

Vernacular names

  • Herbe au chagrin (Fr)
  • Indonesia: memeniran (Sundanese), meniran (Javanese), gosau ma dungi (Ternate)
  • Malaysia: dukong anak, dukong-dukong anak, rami buah (Peninsular)
  • Papua New Guinea: manjinimbi (Kanganaman, Sepik)
  • Philippines: kurukalunggai (Bikol), sampasampalukan (Tagalog), san pedro (Bisaya)
  • Cambodia: préâk phlè (Battambang)
  • Thailand: luuk tai bai (central), ma khaam pom din (northern), yaa tai bai (general)
  • Vietnam: cây chó dẻ, diệp hạ châu.

Distribution

P. amarus is native to the Americas, but now a pantropical weed. It is found throughout Malesia, though not yet reported from Sulawesi.

Uses

From Hainan to Indonesia a decoction or tea is drunk as a diuretic to treat kidney and liver trouble, colic and venereal diseases. It is credited with expectorant (children's coughs), febrifuge, emmenagogue and antidiarrhetic properties. The pounded plants are applied externally on contusions and skin complaints. A decoction of the whole plant is used as a stomach tonic. In Papua New Guinea, a cooled tisane of the whole plant is used to treat headache or migraine. In India, leaves and fruits of P. amarus are ground into a paste with buttermilk, garlic and peppers, and given orally for seven days to treat jaundice. According to Ayurvedic medicine P. amarus has astringent, deobstruent and antiseptic properties, and is furthermore used to treat dyspepsia, dysentery, dropsy, diseases of the urogenital system, gonorrhoea and diabetes. In the form of a poultice with rice water, P. amarus is used on oedematous swellings and ulcers. South-American uses include the treatment of malaria, kidney and bladder stones and urinary disorders in general, whereas the plant is also reported to induce abortion. Traditional healers in Tanga (north-eastern Tanzania) use an aqueous extract of aerial parts of P. amarus for the management of diabetes mellitus that is not insulin-dependent. In Nigeria, an aqueous extract of dried plant material is used against diarrhoea. Leaves are chewed against persistent coughs and used to soothe stomach-ache. In the West Indies, P. amarus is applied to treat childhood intestinal worms and on the Cook Islands (Rarotonga) to treat earache.

Observations

  • A monoecious, annual, erect, glabrous herb up to 60 cm tall with phyllanthoid branching; cataphylls subulate, with triangular stipules often turning black; deciduous branchlets 4-12 cm long, with about 15-30 leaves.
  • Leaves subsessile, elliptical-oblong, 5-11 mm × 3-6 mm, obtuse to rounded at base, obtuse or rounded and often apiculate at apex, stipules ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate; proximal (1-)2 axils of deciduous branchlets with cymules of (1-)2 male flowers, all succeeding axils consisting of 1 male and 1 female flower.
  • Flowers pale green, often flushed with red, with 5(-6) calyx lobes with scarious margins; male flowers with 5 disk segments, stamens (2-)3, filaments completely connate, anthers free, dehiscing obliquely to horizontally; female flowers shortly pedicellate, disk deeply 5-lobed to laciniate, styles free, very shallowly bifid.
  • Fruit an oblate capsule, 1.8-2.5 mm in diameter, obtusely trigonous, smooth.
  • Seeds longitudinally ribbed on the back.

P. amarus is the commonest species of the genus and occurs as a weed of open ground, waste places, grassy scrub and dry deciduous forest, usually on humid, sandy soils, up to 1000 m altitude.

Selected sources

  • [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
  • [192] Brunel, J.F. & Roux, J., 1984. South-East Asian Phyllantheae II. Some Phyllanthus of subsect. Swartziani. Nordic Journal of Botany 4(4): 469-473.
  • [202] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I-Z) pp. 1241-2444.
  • [225] Chainuvati, P., Bunyapraphatsara, N., Luengrojanakul, P. & Damrongsak, C., 1994. Effect of Phyllanthus amarus Schum. et Thonn. on Thai chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus. Thai Journal of Phytopharmacy 1(2): 13-16.
  • [580] Heyne, K., 1950. De nuttige planten van Indonesië [The useful plants of Indonesia]. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. W. van Hoeve, 's-Gravenhage, the Netherlands/Bandung, Indonesia. 1660 + CCXLI pp.
  • [597] Holdsworth, D.K., 1977. Medicinal plants of Papua New Guinea. Technical Paper No 175. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 123 pp.
  • [838] Leelarasamee, A., Trakulsomboon, S., Maunwongyathi, P., Somanabandhu, A., Pidetcha, P., Matrakool, B., Lebnak, T., Ridthimat, W. & Chandanayingyong, D., 1990. Failure of Phyllanthus amarus to eradicate hepatitis B surface antigen from symptomless carriers. The Lancet 335(8705): 1600-1601.
  • [949] Milliken, W., 1997. Traditional anti-malarial medicine in Roraima, Brazil. Economic Botany 51(3): 212-237.
  • [982] Moshi, M.J., Uiso, F.C., Mahunnah, R.L.A., Malele, S.R. & Swai, A.B.M., 1997. A study of the effect of P. amarus extracts on blood glucose in rabbits. International Journal of Pharmacology 35(3): 167-173.
  • [1035] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.
  • [1126] Perry, L.M., 1980. Medicinal plants of East and Southeast Asia. Attributed properties and uses. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States & London, United Kingdom. 620 pp.
  • [1128] Pételot, A., 1952-1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
  • [1135] Philcox, D., 1997. Euphorbiaceae. In: Dassanayake, M.D. & Clayton, W.D. (Editors): A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol. 11. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. pp. 80-283.
  • [1178] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
  • [1193] Raja Reddy, K., 1988. Folk medicine from Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India, used in the treatment of jaundice. International Journal of Crude Drug Research 26(3): 137-140.
  • [1380] Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. 379 pp.
  • [1555] Webster, G.L., 1956-1958. A monographic study of the West Indian species of Phyllanthus. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 37: 91-122, 217-268, 340-359; 38: 51-80, 170-198, 295-373; 39: 49-100, 111-212.
  • [1556] Webster, G.L., 1986. A revision of Phyllanthus (Euphorbiaceae) in Eastern Melanesia. Pacific Science 40: 88-105.

Main genus page

Authors

  • F.L. van Holthoon
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