About officinal breynia
Breynia vitis-idaea, the officinal breynia, is a perennial tree-like species of Phyllanthaceae (Euphorbiaceae s.l.), found from India east to Taiwan and Okinawa and south to Indonesia. It is a shrub or treelet with egg-shaped leaves that can reach up to 3 m tall. It has staminate flowers and spherical, red fruit. Breynia vitis-idaea is pollinated by the leafflower moth Epicephala vitisidaea in Fujian, China and the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. The moth actively pollinates the flowers, but lays an egg into the space between the external carpel wall and the tepals. The moth caterpillars consume a subset of the tree's seeds, receiving nourishment in return. It contains the saponin breynin and terpenic and phenolic glycosides.
Description adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Breynia vitis-idaea
- Genus
- Breynia
- Family
- EUPHORBIACEAE
- Habit
- Shrub
- Habitat
- Semi-Evergreen forests, also moist deciduous forests
- Distribution
- India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Southeast Asia, China, Malaysia, Ryukyu Islands
- Flowering & fruiting
- February-August
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Local Names
- Bengali
- পানছিটকি, পানকুশি, পানজুলি
- Tamil
- சிவப்புப்பூலா civappu-p-pula, பவளப்பூலா pavala-p-pula, செம்பூலா
- Telugu
- పొగడ pogada, ఎల్లారి yellari, యెర్ర బల్లి yerra-balli
- Kannada
- ಬಿಳಿಸೂಲಿ Bilisooli, ಕಾಡು ನುಗ್ಗೆ Kaadu nugge ಬಾಮರಿ Baamari, ಬಿಳಿಸೂಲಿಗೆ Bilisoolige
- Malayalam
- കാട്ടുനിരൂരി kattuniruri, പാവലപൂല pavalapula, കാട്ടുനിരൂരി
Euphorbiaceae
Spurge/Euphorbia family
officinal breynia belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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