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Information Very like Phyllanthushutchinsonianus, but with shorter internodes on the lateral shoots; smaller leaves with blades 1–11 × 0.5–5 mm, oblong to elliptic-oblong, membranaceous, not or scarcely thickened on the margins, lateral nerves usually not visible above, scarcely so beneath; female pedicels 1–3 mm long; female sepals accrescent to 2–3 × 1 mm, elliptic-oblong, not enfolding the fruit; fruit 2 × 3 mm; and seeds 1.2 × 1.1 × 1 mm.

Information Very like Phyllanthus confusus from Mt. Mulanje but with lead shoots and lower part of the lateral shoots minutely papillose-puberulous with multicellular hairs; scale leaves strongly reflexed, their stipules scarcely or slighly auriculate adaxially; male disk glands shallowly lobulate and tuberculate; and the female disk deeply 3-lobed.

Information Very like Phyllanthus nyikae, but the plants procumbent with indumentum composed of simple papillae; scale leaves swollen and blackened at the base, not strongly reflexed; male disk glands not lobulate; female disk collar-like, pentagonal; and the ovary stipitate.

Information Very like Phyllanthus hutchinsonianus, but the plants generally dioecious with scale leaf stipules not as strongly auriculate; foliage leaves not as closely distichous, the blades up to 2.8 × 2.3 cm and often broadly elliptic-ovate, glaucous beneath, occasionally retuse at the apex and truncate at the base and with up to 12 pairs of lateral nerves; female pedicels 8–14 mm long; female sepals accrescent to up to 6 × 4 mm; seeds silky-textured and brown with only 8–9 longitudinal rows of shallow closely-set reddish-brown transversely lineate tubercles on the dorsal facet, and c. 6 concentric arcs of such tubercles per ventral facet, connected by parallel transverse striae.

Information A small shrub; flowering branchlets produced singly, angular or very slightly winged, glabrous. Leaves elliptic, rounded to a minute point, rounded at the base, 3–4 lin. long, 1 3/4–2 1/4 lin. broad, green, very thin, glabrous on both surfaces; lateral nerves about 3 on each side, faint below, invisible above, margins slightly recurved; petiole 1/4 lin. long, glabrous; stipules ovate-triangular, acute, 1/2– 3/4 lin. long, membranous, brown, glabrous. Flowers monœcious. Male flowers: Sepals 5–6, obovate, rounded at the apex, about 1/2 lin. long, glabrous. Disk-glands 5–6, rounded, smooth. Stamens 2–3; filaments connate to the top; anthers dehiscing at the side. Female flowers: Sepals oblong-ellipsoid, rounded at the apex, 1 1/4 lin. long, 3/4 lin. broad, with membranous margins, glabrous. Disk flat, entire or slightly undulately lobed, glabrous. Ovary subglobose, 6-lobed, glabrous; styles erect, bilobed to below the middle, lobes not swollen at the tips. Capsule about 1 1/2 lin. in diam. Seeds trigonous, convex on the back, 1 lin. long, with about 7 lines on the back.

Information An erect virgate shrub or subshrub 0.5–2.5 m tall, often much-branched, glabrous, monoecious or sometimes dioecious.Lead shoots angular.Lateral shoots (2)5–10 cm long, often borne close together at the top of the lead shoots.Scale leaves c. 2 mm long, subulate, dark purplish-brown; stipules 3 × 1 mm, triangular-lanceolate, acutely acuminate, strongly auriculate adaxially, scarious, dark brown.Foliage leaves closely distichous; petioles c. 0.5 mm long; stipules c. 1 mm long, narrowly triangular-lanceolate, brownish.Leaf blades 3–13 × 2–7.5 mm, elliptic-obovate to elliptic-oblong, obtuse or rounded, sometimes apiculate, rounded-cuneate at the base, thickened and slightly recurved at the margins, chartaceous, dark green above, paler beneath, often reddish on the margins; lateral nerves in 3–6 pairs, scarcely visible above, often indistinct beneath.Male flowers in few-flowered bracteate cymules in the middle axils of the leafy shoots, female flowers solitary in the uppermost axils, either on the same or different shoots or plants.Male flowers: pedicels up to 3 mm long, slender; sepals 5(6), 2 × 1.5 mm, obovate-suborbicular, cream-coloured or greenish with white margins; disk glands 5(6), free, c. 0.5 mm in diameter, ± circular, shallowly tuberculate, the tubercles with apical pits; stamens 2(3), filaments united for the most part into a column c. 1 mm high, anthers 0.4 × 0.5 mm, transversely ovoid, free, ± horizontally held, laterally dehiscent, yellow.Female flowers: pedicels 2–5 mm long, more robust than in the male flower and broadening towards the apex; sepals 5, 1.75 × 1.25 mm, accrescent to up to 3.5 × 2.5 mm, obovate-suborbicular, cream-coloured to yellowish, often flushed reddish; disk 0.8 mm in diameter, roundly pentagonal, slightly undulate at the margin; ovary 0.75 mm in diameter, sessile, 6-lobed, subglobose, smooth; styles 3, 0.6 mm long, ± free, suberect at first, later divergent, bifid, the stigmas slightly recurved.Fruit 2–3 × 3–4 mm, depressed-globose, ± smooth, ochreous, enclosed by the persistent sepals.Seeds 1.5–2 × 1.2–1.6 × 1–1.4 mm, segmentiform, pale brown, with 15–20 fine longitudinal lines on the dorsal facet, and c. 12 concentric arcs on each ventral facet, with innumerable transverse striae between them.