Alok ji, This confusion is widespread, universal and is also not new! Thanks for rekindling!
As far as I know, *Phyllanthus niruri* L. does not occur in India. It is native to tropical Americas (as per GRIN). The species reported in several Indian literature (incl. FBI) in the past as * P. niruri *L. is now correctly known as *P. amarus* Schum. The latter species is also originally of American origin, but is widely naturalized in many paleotropical countries, including India. If you see two different but looking-alike plants in India, then they may be of two different species (P. fraternus, native to India and Pakistan, is often confused with P. amarus). Please refer to recent studies for more details about species of Phyllanthus in India (given below). As usual, you can post the pictures of your plants here for id. Here is a key from Webster's "Revision of Phyllanthus..."<http://link.springer.com/article/10.2307/2805721> : *Phyllanthus amarus* Schum.: Seeds ribbed or striate, less than 1.5 mm long; fruiting calyx lobes less than 1.5 mm long, midrib unbranched; style branches scarcely capitate. *Phyllanthus niruri* L.: Seeds verruculose, 1.5 mm long or more; fruiting calyx lobes more than 1.5 mm long, pinnately veined; style branches with capitate stigmas. Suggested readings: 1. Chaudhary, L. B. ; Rao, R. R. (2002) *Taxonomic study of herbaceous species of Phyllanthus L. (Euphorbiaceae) in India* Phytotaxonomy, 2 . 143- 162. ISSN 0972-4206 2. Webster, Grady L. "A revision of Phyllanthus (Euphorbiaceae) in the continental United States." *Brittonia* 22.1 (1970): 44-76. Regards Vijayasankar Raman National Center for Natural Products Research University of Mississippi On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 6:31 AM, Alok Goyal <[email protected]> wrote: > Hallo all > > Can you please guide me to the differences between Phyllanthus amarus and > Phyllanthus niruri... > > i mean the two are presented at many places interchangeable probably and > whatever is present on net is very confusing... > > Alok > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "efloraofindia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
