Phyllanthus flexuosus (Siebold & Zucc.) Müll. Arg.

Shrubs up to 3 m tall, monoecious, glabrous throughout; main branches slightly zigzag, with distinct short shoots; leafy branchlets 8-15 cm, brownish. Leaves progressively larger along shoot, distichous; stipules ovate-triangular, caducous; petioles 2-3 mm, rugulose when dried; leaf blade elliptic to ovate, 2-4.5 × 1-2.5 cm, papery, slightly white-green abaxially, base obtuse to rounded, apex acuminate or obtuse; lateral veins 5-7 pairs. Inflorescence an axillary fascicle with up to 5 male and 1 female flowers. Male flowers: pedicels short; sepals 5, broadly ovate or rounded, ca. 1 mm, dark purple; disk glands 5; stamens 5; filaments free; anthers 0.3-0.4 mm, longitudinally dehiscent. Female flowers ca. 3 mm in diam.; pedicels ca. 1 cm; sepals 6, ovate or elliptic, ca. 1 mm, caducous; disk glands 6; ovary ovoid, 3-celled; styles 3, bifid at apex, exserted from calyx. Fruit a berry, oblate, ca. 6 mm wide, 3-celled. Seeds subtriangular, ca. 3 mm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jun-Sep.

Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].

Open forests or scrub; 700-1500 m.

Cicca flexuosa Siebold & Zuccarini, Abh. Math.-Phys. Cl. Konigl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. 4(2): 143. 1845; Glochidion flexuosum (Siebold & Zuccarini) Müller Argoviensis; Hemicicca flexuosa (Siebold & Zuccarini) Huru sawa; H. japonica Baillon; Phyllanthus japonicus (Baillon) Müller Argoviensis.