Phyllanthus urinaria (Phyllanthaceae), first record of an alien species naturalized in Cuba
Journal Title: Revista del Jardín Botánico Nacional - Year 2016, Vol 37, Issue 1
Abstract
Phyllanthus urinaria L. is an annual herbaceous plant widely distributed in the tropics that belongs to Phyllanthus section Urinaria G.L. Webster (ca. four species) in subgenus Phyllanthus (Webster 1957, Rossignol & al., 1987). The species of this Asiatic section has been introduced and naturalized in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, tropical Africa, and Australia (Rossignol & al., 1987). Due to its different inflorescence and seed structure, the section Urinaria is isolated within the subgenus Phyllanthus (Webster 1957). The detailed study of Rossignol & al. (1987), concluded that the Linnaean species Phyllanthus urinaria is a polyploid complex, and proposed several segregate species based on seed morphology and ploidy level. Phyllanthus urinaria has leaves with marginal hispid trichomes, a crenulate pistillate disk, a rugulose or bullate ovary, and transversely ribbed seeds. The hispidulous leaves and transversely ribbed seeds are missing characters in similar native species from the West Indies like P. stipulatus (Raf.) G.L. Webster, P. fraternus G.L. Webster and P. amarus Schumach. & Thonn. (Webster 1957). The species is typically found in humid forest boundaries and littoral forests (Silva & Sales 2007). It is considered one of the most shade tolerant of the herbaceous species of the genus (Webster 1957). Furthermore, it exhibits the sensitive reaction of the plagiotropic branchlets to touch due to nyctinastic movement in a similar way to Mimosa pudica L. leaflets, but much slower (Webster, 1957). This superficial similarity to Mimosa pudica (Fabaceae-Mimosoideae) could have contributed to the misidentification of the species in Cuba or to a less interest to be collected in the island (Figure 1A).
Authors and Affiliations
Banessa Falcón Hidalgo, Susy Fuentes Bazán
Keywords
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