Phyllanthaceae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the

eudicot The eudicots or eudicotyledons are flowering plants that have two seed leaves (cotyledons) upon germination. The term derives from ''dicotyledon'' (etymologically, ''eu'' = true; ''di'' = two; ''cotyledon'' = seed leaf). Historically, authors h ...

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Malpighiales The Malpighiales comprise one of the largest Order (biology), orders of flowering plants. The order is very diverse, with well-known members including willows, Viola (plant), violets, aspens and Populus, poplars, Euphorbia pulcherrima, poinsett ...

. It is most closely related to the family

Picrodendraceae Picrodendraceae is a family of flowering plants, consisting of 80 speciesStephens, P.F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008. http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/ in 25 genera. These are subtropical to Tropics, ...

.Kenneth J. Wurdack and Charles C. Davis. 2009. "Malpighiales phylogenetics: Gaining ground on one of the most recalcitrant clades in the angiosperm tree of life." ''American Journal of Botany'' 96(8):1551-1570. (see ''External links'' below) The Phyllanthaceae are most numerous in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

, with many in the south temperate zone, and a few ranging as far north as the middle of the north temperate zone.Petra Hoffman. 2007. "Phyllanthaceae" pages 250-252. In: Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World.'' Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. . Some species of '' Andrachne'', '' Antidesma'', '' Margaritaria'', and ''

Phyllanthus ''Phyllanthus'' is the largest genus in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. Estimates of the number of species in this genus vary widely, from 750David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book.'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University ...

'' are in cultivation.Anthony J. Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (editors). 1992. ''The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening.'' The Macmillan Press Limited, London; The Stockton Press, New York. (set) A few species of '' Antidesma'', '' Baccaurea'', ''

'', and '' Uapaca'' bear edible fruit. Phyllanthaceae comprises about 2000 species. Depending on the author, these are grouped into 54 to 60

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

. Some of the genera are poorly defined, and the number of genera in the family is likely to change as the classification is further refined. The genus ''

'', one of the largest genera of flowering plants with over 1200 species, has more than half of the species in the family. Some of the genera have recently been sunk into others, while other genera have recently been divided.Kanchana Pruesapan, Ian R.H. Telford, Jeremy J. Bruhl, Stefano G.A. Draisma, and Peter C. Van Welzen. 2008. "Delimitation of ''Sauropus'' (Phyllanthaceae) Based on Plastid matK and Nuclear Ribosomal ITS DNA Sequence Data." ''Annals of Botany'' 102(6):1007-1018. (see ''External links'' below) The largest genera and the approximate number of species in each are: ''

'' (1270), '' Cleistanthus'' (140), '' Antidesma'' (100), '' Aporosa'' (90), '' Uapaca'' (60), '' Baccaurea'' (50), and '' Bridelia'' (50)."Phyllanthaceae" In: Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. In: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see external links below) Since Phyllanthaceae was revised in 2006, one paper has removed '' Heterosavia'' from '' Savia''. Another has separated '' Notoleptopus'' from '' Leptopus'', and segregated '' Pseudophyllanthus'' and '' Phyllanthopsis'' from '' Andrachne''. Also, '' Oreoporanthera'' has been subsumed into '' Poranthera'', while '' Zimmermannia'' and '' Zimmermanniopsis'' have been sunk into '' Meineckia''. The large genus '' Cleistanthus'' is known to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

, but further studies will be needed before it can be revised.

Description

The description here is from Hoffmann, except for a few additions from Webster and Hutchinson John Hutchinson. "Euphorbiaceae" pages 329-330. In: ''The Families of Flowering Plants, Third Edition (1973)''. Oxford University Press: London. where cited. Phyllanthaceae is an unusually diverse family for its moderate size. It can be recognized only by a combination of characters because there are a few exceptions to almost everything that is generally true of the family. It is most notable for having two

ovule In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the sporangium, megasporangium), ...

s in each

locule A locule (: locules) or loculus (; : loculi) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usually refers to a chamber within an ovary ...

of the

ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...

, a trait that clearly distinguishes it from

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae (), the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of Euphorbia, the type genus of the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', ar ...

. The Phyllanthaceae are nearly all

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s, or

herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

. A few are climbers, or

succulents In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meanin ...

, and one species, '' Phyllanthus fluitans'', is aquatic. Unlike many of the

, none has

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

, and only a very few produce a

resin A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...

ous exudate. Any

hairs Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fin ...

, if present, are almost always simple. Rarely are they branched or scale-like. Thorns and other armament are rare.

Stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...

s are produced with each

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

, but in some, these fall before the leaf is fully mature. Leaves are present, except for a few species of ''

'' that have flattened, leaflike stems called cladodes that bear flowers along their edges. The leaves are compound in '' Bischofia'', but otherwise simple and usually

alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an alternative to mainstream superh ...

. Rarely are they

opposite In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''even'' entails that it is not ''odd''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members i ...

, in fascicles, or in whorls around the stem. The leaf margin is almost always

entire Entire may refer to: * Entire function, a function that is holomorphic on the whole complex plane * Entire (animal), an indication that an animal is not neutered * Entire (botany) This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions o ...

, rarely toothed. A petiole is nearly always present, often with a

pulvinus A pulvinus (pl. ''pulvini'') may refer to a joint-like thickening at the base of a plant leaf or leaflet that facilitates growth-independent movement. Pulvinus is also a botanical term for the persistent peg-like bases of the leaves in the conif ...

at its base. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s are usually in the axils of leaves, rarely below the leaves or at the ends of stems. In '' Uapaca'', the flowers are in a

pseudanthium A pseudanthium (; : pseudanthia) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, composite flowers ...

, a tight bundle of flowers that resembles a single flower. Except for four species of '' Aporosa'', the flowers are unisexual, the plants being either

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

. The flowers are

actinomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...

in form. Detailed illustrations have been published for some of these. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are three to eight in number, usually free from each other.

Petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s may be absent or present. If present, there are usually four to six, and their color is yellow to green, or rarely, pink or maroon. A

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

y disk is often present. It may be in the form of a ring, or divided into segments. The

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s are three to ten in number, or rarely more, free or variously fused. The

is superior. The number of

s in the ovary is highly variable, usually from two to five, but sometimes as many as fifteen. The

placentation Placentation is the formation, type and structure, or modes of arrangement of the placenta. The function of placentation is to transfer nutrients, respiratory gases, and water from maternal tissue to a growing embryo, and in some instances to re ...

is apical, with a pair of ovules hanging by their funicles from the top of each locule. Often, only one of the ovules will develop into a

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

. A single, massive obturator may cover the micropyles of both ovules, or each ovule may have its own thin obturator. The megagametophyte is of the Polygonum type. The

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

is usually 2-lobed or bifid, sometimes

, or rarely multifid. The fruit is a

schizocarp A schizocarp is a dry fruit that, when mature, splits up into mericarps. There are different definitions: * Any Dry fruits, dry fruit composed of multiple carpels that separate. : Under this definition the mericarps can contain one or more ...

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

, or

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

. In some, the

breaks up explosively.

Taxonomy

History

The name "Phyllanthaceae" was first validly published by Ivan Ivanovich Martynov in 1820 in a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

book entitled ''Tekhno-botanico Slovar.'' A proposal to conserve this name was published in 2007. Martynov's name was rarely used in the 180 years after he published it. During that time, the plants that are now in Phyllanthaceae were placed in the large and heterogeneous family

. The

monophyly In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent comm ...

of Euphorbiaceae had long been held in doubt by some, but the first strong evidence of its

polyphyly A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which ar ...

came in 1993 with the first

maximum parsimony In phylogenetics and computational phylogenetics, maximum parsimony is an optimality criterion under which the phylogenetic tree that minimizes the total number of character-state changes (or minimizes the cost of differentially weighted charact ...

analysis of

DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...

s of the

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

rbcL Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, commonly known by the abbreviations RuBisCo, rubisco, RuBPCase, or RuBPco, is an enzyme () involved in the Photosynthesis#Light-independent reactions, light-independent (or "dark") part of photosyn ...

from a large number of

seed plants A seed plant or spermatophyte (; New Latin ''spermat-'' and Greek ' (phytón), plant), also known as a phanerogam (taxon Phanerogamae) or a phaenogam (taxon Phaenogamae), is any plant that produces seeds. It is a category of embryophyte (i.e. la ...

.Mark W. Chase et alii (42 authors). 1993. "Phylogenetics of seed plants: an analysis of nucleotide sequences from the plastid gene ''rbcL.''" ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' 80(3):528-580. Since the 1993 study, all subsequent

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

analyses have shown that the old concept of Euphorbiaceae consisted of several lineages that did not together form a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

in the order

. Euphorbiaceae is now defined as a much smaller family than it had been in the twentieth century.Toru Tokuoka. 2007. "Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Euphorbiaceae sensu stricto based on plastid and nuclear DNA sequences and ovule and seed character evolution." ''Journal of Plant Research'' 120(4):511-522. (see ''External links'' below).Charles C. Davis, Maribeth Latvis, Daniel L. Nickrent, Kenneth J. Wurdack, and David A. Baum. 2007. "Floral Gigantism in Rafflesiaceae." ''Science'' 315(5820):1812. (see ''External links'' below).

Pandaceae The family (biology), family Pandaceae consists of three genera that were formerly recognized in the Euphorbiaceae. Those are: *''Galearia'' (from tribe Galearieae, subfamily Acalyphoideae, family Euphorbiaceae) *''Microdesmis'' (from tribe Galea ...

, Phyllanthaceae,

, Putranjivaceae, Peraceae, and

Centroplacaceae Centroplacaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales and is recognized by the APG III system of classification. The family comprises two genera: '' Bhesa'', which was formerly recognized in the Celastraceae, and '' Centroplac ...

have been removed from it. The obsolete, older concept of Euphorbiaceae, known as Euphorbiaceae

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

, is sometimes still used for continuity and convenience.Petra Hoffmann, Don Kirkup, Aimee Galster, Gill Challen, and Alan Radcliffe-Smith. 2005 onward. Interactive Key to the Genera of Euphorbiaceae sensu lato. In: Index of /herbarium/keys. (see ''External links'' below). It was the subject of a book and two papers which stood as the standard works on Phyllanthaceae until that family was revised by Hoffmann and co-authors in 2006.Alan Radcliffe-Smith. 2001. ''Genera Euphorbiacearum.'' Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Richmond, England.

Classification

In the past, the genera ''

Centroplacus ''Centroplacus'' is a genus of the family Centroplacaceae. It was formerly classified in the Phyllanthaceae and given its own tribe, the Centroplaceae. It contains a single species, ''Centroplacus glaucinus''. General information ''C. glaucin ...

'', '' Paradrypetes'', and ''Phyllanoa'' had been placed in Phyllanthaceae, but these are now excluded from the family. ''Centroplacus'' is now in the family

. ''Paradrypetes'' is in

Rhizophoraceae The Rhizophoraceae is a family of tropical or subtropical flowering plants. It includes around 147 species distributed in 15 genera.Setoguchi, H., Kosuge, K., & Tobe, H. (1999). Molecular Phylogeny of Rhizophoraceae Based on rbcL Gene Sequences. ...

. ''Phyllanoa'' is known only from a single specimen. In 1996, this was examined and found to be a species of '' Rinorea'' (

Violaceae Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus '' Viola'', the violets and pansies. Older classifications such as the Cronquist system plac ...

). The family Phyllanthaceae is divided into two subfamilies: Antidesmatoideae and Phyllanthoideae. Antidesmatoideae is divided into six tribes and Phyllanthoideae is divided into four. The tribe Antidesmateae of Antidesmatoideae, and the tribes Bridelieae and Wielandieae of Phyllanthoideae are further divided into subtribes. The following classification table is from the 2006 revision of Phyllanthaceae. Incertae sedis: '' Chonocentrum'' Subfamily Antidesmatoideae 6 tribes : Tribe Bischofieae 1 genus ::: '' Bischofia'' : Tribe Uapaceae 1 genus ::: '' Uapaca'' : Tribe Spondiantheae 1 genus ::: '' Spondianthus'' : Tribe Scepeae 8 genera ::: '' Aporosa'' ::: '' Ashtonia'' ::: '' Baccaurea'' ::: '' Distichirhops'' ::: '' Maesobotrya'' ::: '' Nothobaccaurea'' ::: '' Protomegabaria'' ::: '' Richeria'' : Tribe Jablonskieae 2 genera ::: '' Jablonskia'' ::: '' Celianella'' : Tribe Antidesmateae 5 subtribes :: Subtribe Hieronyminae 1 genus ::: ''

Hieronyma ''Hieronyma'' is a genus in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. It was first described as a genus in 1848. This family was formerly united with spurges, crotons, copperleaves, etc. (Euphorbiaceae), but have turned out to be well distinct. The ge ...

'' :: Subtribe Leptonematinae 1 genus ::: '' Leptonema'' :: Subtribe Martretiinae 2 genera ::: '' Martretia'' ::: '' Apodiscus'' :: Subtribe Hymenocardiinae 2 genera ::: '' Hymenocardia'' ::: '' Didymocistus'' :: Subtribe Antidesmatinae 2 genera ::: '' Antidesma'' ::: '' Thecacoris'' Subfamily Phyllanthoideae 4 tribes : Tribe Bridelieae 5 subtribes :: Subtribe Securineginae 2 genera ::: '' Securinega'' ::: '' Lachnostylis'' :: Subtribe Saviinae 5 genera ::: '' Savia'' ::: '' Croizatia'' ::: '' Discocarpus'' ::: '' Gonatogyne'' ::: '' Tacarcuna'' :: Subtribe Pseudolachnostylidinae 4 genera ::: '' Pseudolachnostylis'' ::: '' Bridelia'' ::: '' Cleistanthus'' ::: '' Pentabrachion'' :: Subtribe Keayodendrinae 1 genus ::: '' Keayodendron'' :: Subtribe Amanoinae 1 genus ::: '' Amanoa'' : Tribe Phyllantheae 5 genera ::: ''

'' (including '' Breynia'', '' Glochidion'', '' Reverchonia'', and '' Sauropus'') ::: '' Flueggea'' ::: '' Lingelsheimia'' ::: '' Margaritaria'' ::: '' Plagiocladus'' : Tribe Wielandieae 2 subtribes :: Subtribe Astrocasiinae 3 genera ::: '' Astrocasia'' ::: '' Chascotheca'' ::: '' Heywoodia'' :: Subtribe Wielandiinae 3 genera ::: '' Wielandia'' ::: '' Chorisandrachne'' ::: '' Dicoelia'' : Tribe Poranthereae 8 genera ::: '' Poranthera'' ::: '' Actephila'' ::: '' Andrachne'' ::: '' Leptopus'' ::: '' Meineckia'' ::: '' Oreoporanthera'' ::: '' Zimmermannia'' ::: '' Zimmermanniopsis''

Genera

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

'' currently accepts 60 genera.Phyllanthaceae Martinov
''

''. Retrieved 17 March 2024. A 2006 revision of Phyllanthaceae by Petra Hoffmann and co-authors recognized 54 genera. In their treatment, ''Blotia'' and ''Petalodiscus'' were sunk into '' Wielandia'' and '' Richeriella'' into '' Flueggea''. '' Breynia'', '' Glochidion'', ''Reverchonia'', and '' Sauropus'' were recommended to be subsumed into ''

'', but many new species combinations must be published to effect this change. Genera previously considered as the tribe Drypeteae are now placed in the separate family Putranjivaceae. Plants of the World Online still accepts ''Breynia'' and ''Glochidion'', and subsumes ''Sauropus'' into ''Breynia''.''Sauropus'' Blume
''

''. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

Phylogeny

The revision of Phyllanthaceae by Hoffmann and co-authors was based on two

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies that were published in 2005. Since the revision, phylogenetic studies have been done on some of the tribes. The phylogenetic tree shown below is based on the results of several studies. Fifty-one genera are represented. ''Chonocentrum''(Phyllanthaceae,

incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

), and three members of the tribe Scepeae (''Ashtonia'', ''Distichirrhops'', and ''Nothobaccaurea'') have not yet been sampled for DNA. ''Chonocentrum'' is known from only a single specimen collected in the 1850s. In the phylogeny shown below, statistical support for the clades was measured by bootstrap percentage. All branches shown below have

bootstrap support of at least 70%.