Habitat
It grows widely in the tropical parts of all countries except Australia. It is found mainly as a weed in waste lands, agricultural lands and riverbanks. In waste lands it grows abundabtly during the rainy season.

Morphology Description (Habit)
It is an annual, glabrous herb grows up to 15-60 cm high. Has an errect stem, naked below and slender and spreading leaf branches above. Leaves are numerous, subsessile, pale green, often distichously imbricating, glaucous below, elliptic to oblong, obtuse, and stipules subulate. Flowers arise in leaf axis, very numerous, males 1-3 and females solitary. Sepels of male orbicular and obovate to oblong in females. Stamens 3, anthers sessile and in a short column. Disc of male minute glands and of females annular and lobed. Capsules depressed globose, smooth and hardly 3 lobed. Seeds are 3-gonous, rounded and with longitudinal regular parallel ribes on the back.

Principal Constituents
Phyllanthin (bitter constituent) and hypophyllanthin (non-bitter compound) are isolated from the leaves. From the aerial parts phyllanthine (4-methoxy-securinine) and 4- methoxy-norsecurinine are identified¹. From the roots glycoflavones were isolated². Lintetralin was also isolated from the plant³. Amariin, a novel hydrolysable tannin together with geraniin, corilagin, 1,6-digalloyl-glucopyranoside as well as a rutin and quercetin- 3-O-lucopyranoside have been isolated from the polar fraction. An unusual hydrolysable tannin, phyllanthusiin D has also been isolated from the biologically active polar fraction⁴.

Pharmacology
The alcoholic extract of the whole plant has anti-cancer activity against Freund virus Leukaemia (solid) in the mouse and antispasmodic activity on isolated guinea pig ileum⁵. Aqueous extract of whole plant has hypoglycaemic action in normal and alloxan-diabetic rabbits and leaves to be higher than that of tolbutamide⁶.

Clinical Studies
It is effective in treatment of infective hepatitis without any adverse effect⁷. It shown to be effective with other Siddha drugs in the treatment of jaundice due to infective hepatitis⁸.

Toxicology
There is no adverse effect was reported on using the plant.

Indications
The plant is bitter, astringent, stomachic, diuretic, febrifuge and antiseptic. Whole plant is used in dropsy, gonorrhoea, menorrhagia and other genital affections. It is useful ingartropathy, dropsy, jaundice, diarrhoea, dysentery, intermittent fevers, ophthalmopathy, scabies, ulcers and wounds. Young shoots and leaves are given in dysentery and ulcers. Fresh root is an excellent remedy for jaundice. The decoction of the plant is a remedy for intermittent fevers and intermittents with infracts of the spleen and liver. Also as a good tonic and diuretic.

1. Planta Medica, 5, 104, 1984.
2. Planta Medica, 32, 217, 1977; J Indian Chem Soc, 56, 326, 1979.
3. Tetrahedron Lett, 32, 3043, 1979.
4. Foo, Phytochemistry, 1993, 33, 487; Foo & Wong, ibid, 1992,31, 711.
5. Indian J Expt Biol, 6, 232, 1968.
6. Indian J Pharmaceut Sci, 44, 10, 1982.
7. J Natl Integ Med Assoc, 25(8), 269, 1983.
8. Punjab Med J, 10, 667, 1982; J Res Indian Med Yoga Homoep, 12(2), 1, 1977.