DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 351 



Honolulu Botanical Gardens!:, were planted in Guam, and were thriving at the time of 

 my dejiarture from the iHland. 

 References: 



Phoenix sylvestris (L. ) Roxb. Hort. Beug. 73. 181-1 (ex IntL. Kew.); Fl. Ind. 



3:787.1832. 

 Elate sylvestris I.. Sp. PI. 2: 1189. 1753. 



Phragmites communis. Same as Trichooii ph rag mites. See under Trichoon 



ro.rliiirgltii. 



Phragmites karka Trin. Same as Trichoon roxburghii. 

 Phragmites phragmites. Srr under Trichoon roxburghii. 

 Phragmites roxburghii. Same as TricJtoon roxburghii. 

 Phyllanthus gaudichaudii. Same as Glochidion marianum. 



Phyllanthus marianus. Puvllantiius. 



Family Euphorbiaceae. 



A shrub with leaves arranged in two vertical rows; branches compressed, wrinkled; 

 leaves subsessile, ovate, unequal at the base, acute at the apex, membranous, promi- 

 nentl}- net- veined; flowers in axillary clusters, shortly pedicelled, very minute, 

 numerous; glands of male flowers free; stamens 3, filaments united in a column; 

 staminal column entire, anthers erect with vertical slits, free from one another; 

 female flowers with three bifid styles; capsule of three crustaceous 2-valved cocci; 

 seeds on the back coarsely, transversely undulate-ribbed. 



The type specimen of this species was collected on the island of Guam in 1819 by 

 Gaudichaud and placed in tlie herljarium of De Candolle. The plant is used medici- 

 nally l)y the natives of Guam. 

 References : 

 PhijUanthus marianus Muell. Ai'g. Linnjiea 32: 17. 1863. 



Not to l)e confused with Fhi/llanihas {(Uochidion) marianus Miill. Arg. Flora 48: 

 379, 1865, also from Guam, which was first described l^y Miiller in Einniea, 32: 65, as 

 dhichidion mariainmt, a genus vvhi(;h is now recognized as distinct from Phyllanthus. f« 



Phyllanthus niruri. Fly-roost. 



Local names. — Maigo-lalo, Maigu-lalo (Guam). 



An annual, herbaceous, glal)rous weed of wide tropical distribution; stem angular, 

 glal)rous, 15 to 45 cm. high, often l)ranched from the base, with slender leafy angu- 

 lar branchlets above. Leaves varial)le, pale gretn, 6 to 18 mm. long, often imbri- 

 cated in two rows, glaucous beneath, elliptic-bbovate, oblong, or linear, the tip 

 rounded, obtuse, or acute; petiole minute; stipules subulate; flowers very numerous, 

 males solitary and in pairs, almost sessile; female twice as large; sepals of male orbic- 

 ular, of female narrowly obovate-oblong with broad white margins, spreading; disk 

 of male of minute glands; anthers 3, sessile on a short column; disk of female annu- 

 lar, lobed; styles minute, very short, free, 2-lobed; capsule minute, depressed- 

 globose, smooth; seeds with equal parallel slender ribs and faint cross strife. 



This plant is very common in Guam, growing everywhere in waste places. The 

 native name, signifying "sleeping flies," or "fly-roost," is probably applied to it 

 from the appearance of the plant when the leaves closing together have the appear- 

 ance of a nundjer of two-winged insects I'iinging to the stem. 



The milky juice of this plant is a good remedy for offensive sores. The In-uised 

 bitter leaves are applied externally as a cure for the itch and for scabby sores of the 

 scalp, and the fresh root is an excellent remedy for jaundice. ^ 

 References: 



Phyllanthus niruri L. Sp. Pi. 2: 98 L 1758. 



« Hooker, Flora British India, vol. 5, p. 306, 1890. 



&Watt, Economic Products of India, vol. 6, pt. 1, p. 222, 1892. 



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