Guam Plant Extinction Prevention Program

Family: Phyllanthaceae

Form: an erect, low woody shrub, sparsely branched, with terete stems to 30-40 (rarely 60-70) cm tall, sometimes accumbent from prostrate bases; branches dark reddish-brown.

Leaves: side-branchlets 10-12 cm long, with many small distichous, shiny dark green, imbricate, oblong leaves 5-12 cm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, acuminate, base obtuse, slightly in equilateral, the margins thickened, cartilaginous, puncticulate on both surfaces; about 9 pairs of lateral nerves, obscure; petioles scarcely 1/5mm long; stipules 2.5-3.5 mm long, filiform-acuminate

Flower: flowers 6-merous, axillary; male flowers on pedicels 1/2 mm long, sepals 1.1 mm long, stamens 3, free, disc of 6 free glands; anthers globose, opening by vertical slits; female flowers, sessile sepals oblong 1.2mm long, ovary glabrous, ovoid or depressed-globose; styles 3, divaricate, connate only at base, bifid; disk saucer-like, scarcely 1/2 mm high

Fruit: small berries that mature from green to red and contain numerous seeds

Habitat: savannah badlands areas with red clay soil; normally found with other plants nearby, anywhere from 1-100 other individuals