Phyllanthus prominulatus J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl

Verwijs, J. I. M., Bouman, R. W. & Welzen, P. C. van, 2019, A taxonomic revision of Phyllanthus subgenus Macraea (Phyllanthaceae), Blumea 64 (3), pp. 231-252 : 243-245

15. Phyllanthus prominulatus J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl

Phyllanthus prominulatus J.T.Hunter & J.J.Bruhl (1997) 153. — Type: GM Wightman 20 (holo DNA), Australia, Northern Territory, Kalpaga , [precise locality withheld].

Copied from Hunter & Bruhl (1997): Monoecious herb. Branchlets persistent, angular to ellipsoid, slightly winged, 0.6–1.7 cm long, 0.3–0.6 mm wide, glabrous. Stipules persistent, free, 0.5–0.7 mm long, red-brown, ovate to triangular, chartaceous, entire, glabrous; base cordate to amplexicaul; apex acute to acuminate. Branch leaves normal. Branchlet leaves alternate, distichous, jointed, brown when dry or remaining green, symmetrical, plane to concave. Petiole 0.3–0.8 mm long, 0.1–0.4 mm wide, glabrous. Lamina 5–8.8 mm long, 2.4–4.8 mm wide, elliptic, circular to obovate, light-green, paler below, pinnately veined, adaxially prominently veined, abaxially prominulous, glabrous; base symmetrical, rounded to obtuse; apex erect, ecaudate, obtuse to rounded, mucronate; margins plane, thickened; midrib abaxially raised with 4–8 raised parallel lateral veins per side, with marginal loops. Bracts and bracte- oles deciduous, glabrous. Inflorescences at least sometimes bisexual with the sexes mixed, indeterminate, axillary, sessile. Male flowers solitary or sometimes clustered, 2–5 per cluster; pedicels 0.4–1.2 mm long, glabrous; sepals 6, free, ascending to divergent, 0.3–0.7 mm long, 0.2–0.5 mm wide, the margins are sometimes lobed once on each side (hastate), white to yellow, elliptic, circular, to ovate, obtuse and acute, glabrous; disk comprising discrete lobes, 0.2–0.4 mm wide, lobes lenticular; stamens 2–3, 1-whorled, erect; filaments free to connate for about half their length, erect, terete, 0.1–0.3 mm long; anthers extrorse, divaricate, elliptic to circular, 0.1–0.2 mm long. Female flowers solitary or sometimes clustered, 1–2 per cluster; pedicels jointed, at anthesis 0.3–1.1 mm long, 0.1–0.2 mm wide, in fruit 1–2.7 mm long, 0.1–0.2 mm wide, glabrous; sepals free, 6, 0.3–0.5 mm long, 0.2–0.3 mm wide, elliptic to ovate, at anthesis ascending to divergent, in fruit divergent to reflexed, white, green to yellow, with a distinct white margin, obtuse to acute, glabrous; disk crenate, 0.4–0.6 mm wide, glabrous; styles 3, free, divided for half or more of their length, divergent to recurved, yellow to green, 0.2–0.3 mm long, 0.1–0.2 mm wide, narrow-terete, glabrous, branches linear; ovary 0.2–0.5 mm long, 0.3–0.7 mm wide, transversely ellipsoid and apically depressed, smooth, glabrous. Fruit a capsule, septicidal, transversely ellipsoid and apically depressed, 0.8–0.9 mm long, 1.5–1.8 mm wide, yellow-brown, red-brown to green, cartilaginous, smooth, glabrous, grooved septicidally; column persistent, angular-ovoid to ‘lanceolate’, 0.3–0.5 mm long. Seeds pallid-brown to red-brown, prismatic, laterally compressed, 0.6–0.7 mm long, 0.5–0.7 mm wide, granulate; hilum slightly depressed, circular to ovate, cavity more or less basal.

Distribution — Australia (Northern Territory and Kakadu National Park) ( Hunter & Bruhl 1997).

Habitat & Ecology — Occurs in damp parts of savannah woodlands and sedgelands.

Notes — 1. There was insufficient material available to make a description. See Hunter & Bruhl (1997) for a comprehensive description of this species. Distribution and ecological data were taken from Hunter & Bruhl (1997).

2. Distinguished from P. virgatus by its lateral veins, which are prominent above, while those of P. virgatus are flat above. The veins of both species are slightly prominent underneath.