Foersteria (wasp)

''Breynia'' is a plant genus in the family Phyllanthaceae, first described in 1776. It is native to Southeast Asia, China, the Indian Subcontinent, Papuasia, Australia, and the island of Réunion.

The name ''Breynia'' is a conserved name, it is recognized despite the existence of an earlier use of the same name to refer to a different plant. ''Breynia'' L. 1753 is in the Capparaceae, but it is a rejected name. We here discuss ''Breynia'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. 1776.

In a 2006 revision of the Phyllanthaceae, it was recommended that ''Breynia'' be subsumed in ''Phyllanthus''; however, new combinations in ''Phyllanthus'' for former ''Breynia'' species remain to be published.

''Breynia'' are of special note in the fields of pollination biology and coevolution because they have a specialized mutualism with moths in the genus ''Epicephala'' (leafflower moths), in which the moths actively pollinate the flowers—thereby ensuring that the tree may produce viable seeds—but also lay eggs in the flowers' ovaries or in the space between the tepals and the carpel walls, from where their larvae consume a subset of the developing seeds as nourishment. Other species of ''Epicephala'' are pollinators, and in some cases, non-pollinating seed predators, of certain species of plants in the genera ''Phyllanthus'' and '' Glochidion'', both closely related to ''Breynia''. This relationship is similar to those between figs and fig wasps and yuccas and yucca moths.

;Species
*''Breynia baudouinii'' Beille – Vietnam
*''Breynia calcarea'' (M.R.Hend.) Welzen & Pruesapan – W Malaysia
*''Breynia carnosa'' Welzen & Pruesapan – Vietnam
*''Breynia cernua'' (Poir.) Müll.Arg. – Northern Territory of Australia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Sulawesi, Philippines, Borneo, Java
*'' Breynia collaris'' Airy Shaw – Papua New Guinea
*'' Breynia coriacea'' Beille – Vietnam
*'' Breynia coronata'' Hook.f. – Thailand, W Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra
*'' Breynia discigera'' Müll.Arg. – Thailand, W Malaysia, Sumatra
*''Breynia disticha'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. – Vanuatu, New Caledonia; naturalized in West Indies, Florida, Gambia, and scattered oceanic islands
*'' Breynia diversifolia'' Beille – Vietnam
*'' Breynia fleuryi'' Beille – Vietnam
*'' Breynia fruticosa'' (L.) Müll.Arg. – Vietnam, Thailand, S China
*'' Breynia glauca'' Craib – Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Borneo
*'' Breynia grandiflora'' Beille – Vietnam
*'' Breynia heyneana'' J.J.Sm. – Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia
*'' Breynia indosinensis'' Beille – Vietnam, Laos
*'' Breynia lithophila'' Welzen & Pruesapan – Thailand
*'' Breynia massiei'' Beille – Laos
*'' Breynia microphylla'' (Kurz ex Teijsm. & Binn.) Müll.Arg. – Sumatera, Java, Sulawesi
*'' Breynia mollis'' J.J.Sm. – New Guinea
*''Breynia oblongifolia'' (Müll.Arg.) Müll.Arg. – Papua New Guinea, Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory
*'' Breynia obscura'' Welzen & Pruesapan – W Malaysia
*'' Breynia platycalyx'' Airy Shaw – W New Guinea
*'' Breynia podocarpa'' Airy Shaw – Papua New Guinea, Northern Territory
*'' Breynia pubescens'' Merr. – Maluku
*'' Breynia racemosa'' (Blume) Müll.Arg. – Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Myanmar, W Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Philippines, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago
*'' Breynia repens'' Welzen & Pruesapan – Thailand
*''Breynia retusa'' (Dennst.) Alston – Réunion, India, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, E Himalayas, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, W Malaysia
*'' Breynia rhynchocarpa'' Benth. – Northern Territory of Australia
*'' Breynia rostrata'' Merr. – Vietnam, S China
*'' Breynia septata'' Beille – Vietnam
*'' Breynia stipitata'' Müll.Arg. – Northern Territory, Queensland
*'' Breynia subangustifolia'' Thin – Vietnam
*'' Breynia subindochinensis'' Thin – Vietnam
*'' Breynia tonkinensis'' Beille – Vietnam
*'' Breynia vestita'' Warb. – New Guinea, Kai Island in Maluku Province of Indonesia
*'' Breynia virgata'' (Blume) Müll.Arg. – Sumatra, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands
*''Breynia vitis-idaea'' (Burm.f.) C.E.C.Fisch. – China, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Indochina, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, W Malaysia, Sumatra, Philippines

;Formerly included
''Breynia subterblanca'' (C.E.C.Fisch.) C.E.C.Fisch, synonym of ''Sauropus subterblancus'' (C.E.C.Fisch.) WelzenKew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, ''Breynia subterblanca''
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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q114906

Phyllanthaceae genera