Moeroris tenella (Roxb.) R.W. Bouman

Mascarene Island Leaf Flower; Long Stalk Leaf Flower

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Mascarene Island Leaf Flower is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Leaf Flower family (Phyllanthaceae). It is native to the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean and possibly east Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and other islands in the Indian Ocean. In can be found throughout Alabama, but is most common in the southern half of the state. Mascarene Island Leaf Flower occurs in flower beds, in gardens, in lawns, on roadsides, and in other disturbed areas. It is an annual with a taproot. The stems are erect, round in cross section, not winged, glabrous or scabridulous, and green or reddish-brown in color. The vertical stems have phyllanthoid branches (horizontal, flower-bearing stems) that resemble pinnately compound leaves. The leaves on the main stem are small and scale-like. Those on the branches are well-developed, elliptic or obovate in outline, glabrous, and entire. Flowers are solitary or in cymules in the axils of the leaves, the proximal bisexual with 1–2 pistillate flowers and 2–3 staminate flowers, the distal with 1 pistillate flower. The peduncles of the pistillate flowers are long and capillary. Staminate flowers have 5 white sepals with green midribs and 5 stamens. Pistillate flowers have 5 white sepals with green midribs and an unlobed annular nectary. The fruit is a smooth capsule. Mascarene Island Leaf Flower is an aggressive weed that was first reported in the United States from Florida in 1920. It begins to fruit when very young, and is difficult to eliminate once established.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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