Dilip Walse Patil

Scientific Name : Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels

Category : Angiosperms

Status : Alive

Habit : A deciduous tree with 5-8 m high, monoecious, closely marked with thick scare of deciduous branchlets, branches spreading wrinkled, 30-60 cm long, glabrous. Leaves : Glabrous, pinnately distichous, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, crowded to the ends or branches, upper leaves pale-green, lower ones pale-red, stipules minute, subulate, petioles minute. Flowers : Reddish, clustered on pendulous branches on old wood, pedicels short, about 6-10 mm long, capillary. Fruits : Edible, globose, fleshy, yellow, 3, 4 or 8-lobed. Seeds long red or pale-brown. Flowering and Fruiting Time : March - June Significance : The roots and seeds are cathartic. The juice of the root bark is used as a poison, it produces headache, sleepiness and death accompanied by severe abdominal pain.