2.10.1 Description of Phyllanthus amarus
Kingdom Plantae
Division Angiospermae
Class Dicotyledoneae
Order Tubiflorae
Family Euphorbiaceae
Genus Phyllanthus
Species amarus
Figure 2.2: Image of Phyllanthus amarus (Source: Snap shot from field).
2.10.2 Botanical description:
Phyllanthus amarus is a plant of the family Euphorbiaceae and has about approximately 800 species which are found in tropical and subtropical countries of the world (Mazumder et al., 2006; Tahseen et al., 2013). It is a branching annual glabrous herb which is 30-60 cm high and has slender, leaf-bearing branchlets, distichous leaves which are subsessile elliptic-oblong, obtuse, rounded base. The name ‘Phyllanthus’ means “leaf and flower” and named so because of its appearance where flower, fruit and leaf appears fused (Kumar et al., 2011). Flowers are yellowish, whitish or greenish, auxiliary, male flowers in groups of 1-3 whereas females are solitary. Fruits are depressed-globose like smooth capsules present underneath the branches and seeds are trigonous, pale brown with longitudinal parallel ribs on the back (Itoro et al., 2013).
2.10.3…show more content… Another study revealed that methanol extract of the plant found inhibiting lipid peroxidase and scavenge hydroxyl and superoxidase radical that are linked with diabetes therefore quenching the free radicals that could be of mechanism of action (Oberley, 1988: Kiran et al.,