Morphological characterization of herbaceous Phyllanthus spp. from Kerala

Abstract: Phyllanthus amarus Schum and Thonn belonging to Euphorbiaceae is reputed for its hepatoprotective activity against Hepatitis B virus. Preponderance of other herbaceous Phyllanthus spp. often leads to deliberate adulteration or substitution, lowering the efficacy of medication. Hence surveying agro ecological zones of Kerala and characterizing natural population of Phyllanthus spp. morphologically will ensure the correct identity. Exploratory surveys were conducted adopting purposive sampling procedure and accessions of Phyllanthus spp. were collected from different agro-ecological zones of Kerala (coastal, plains, midlands and high altitude regions) representing northern, central and southern Kerala. The collected accessions were identified using morphological key characters of herbaceous Phyllanthus spp. as described in Flora of Madras Presidency by Gamble and Fischer (1915-1936). No considerable variations were observed for characters like, growth habit, branching pattern, leaf margin, capsule colour, capsule shape and flower colour. Accessions representing P. amarus were found to have oblong leaflet shape, obtuse apex and round base. Dark green, light green and purple green stem colour and faintly mucronate to mucronate leaf apices were observed for the collected accessions of P. urinaria. The accession of P. maderaspatensis had obcordate leaf apex. Number of sepals and pedicel length were identified to be the non variable quantitative characters in Phyllanthus. Highest plant height, was observed for P. virgatus var. gardnerianus, inferring that it is the tallest herbaceous Phyllanthus spp among the collected ones. Broad leaves were observed in P. rheedei and longest leaflets in P. virgatus var. gardnerianus and P. virgatus var. virgatus.