Black honey shrub

Description

Phyllanthus reticulatus is a plant species described Jean Louis Marie Poiret; it is included in the family Phyllanthaceae. This is an Asian species of Phyllanthus (but it was also introduced to Jamaica); it has been confused with P. polyspermus. In Vietnamese its name is phèn đen (sometimes diệp hạ châu mạng). It is also found in Northern Australia, where the aborigines of the Moyle River area use the wood for firesticks and call it Mirrinymirriny. Phyllanthus reticulatus is pollinated by several different species of Epicephala in East Asia. The adult moths pollinate the flowers but lay eggs in the P. reticulatus flowers' ovaries, where the emerging larvae consume some of the developing seeds. Phyllanthus reticulatus is a shrub, sometimes partially scrambling and usually only up to 5 m high, with light reddish-brown or grey-brown with hairy stems when young, which become smooth with age. For a full description see Flora of China and the gallery below.