Notoleptopus

Notoleptopus is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is one of eight genera in the tribe Poranthereae. The sole species is Notoleptopus decaisnei. It is a monoecious shrub, native to Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia.

Notoleptopus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Phyllanthaceae
Subfamily:	Phyllanthoideae
Tribe:	Poranthereae
Genus:	Notoleptopus Voronts. & Petra Hoffm.
Species:	N. decaisnei
Binomial name
Notoleptopus decaisnei (Benth.) Voronts. & Petra Hoffm.

Notoleptopus decaisnei had long been treated as a species of Leptopus, but in 2007, a molecular phylogenetic study of DNA sequences found it to be sister to a clade consisting of Pseudophyllanthus and Poranthera.^[1] In 2008, the new genus Notoleptopus was created for it.^[2]

The species, N. decaisnei, has eleven synonyms,^[3] and was first described as Andrachne decaisnei by George Bentham in 1873.^[4][5] The species epithet honours Joseph Decaisne.

• Andrachne decaisnei Benth.
• Andrachne decaisnei var. orbicularis Benth.
• Andrachne fruticosa Decne. ex Müll.Arg.
• Andrachne fruticosa var. orbicularis (Benth.) Pax & K.Hoffm.
• Andrachne orbicularis (Benth.) Domin
• Arachne decaisnei (Benth.) Pojark.
• Arachne fruticosa Hurus.
• Arachne orbicularis (Benth.) Pojark.
• Leptopus decaisnei (Benth.) Pojark.
• Leptopus decaisnei var. orbicularis (Benth.) Airy Shaw
• Leptopus orbicularis (Benth.) Pojark.

Description

Bentham describes the species Andrachne Decaisnei as follows:

Apparently annual, but the stems hard and woody-looking at the base, much branched, decumbent, attaining 1 to 2 or even 3 ft., the whole plant softly villous. Leaves broadly obovate or obovate-oblong, ½ to ¾ in. long, on rather long petioles. Male flowers 2 or 3 together on very short pedicels. Calyx-segments 5, lanceolate, acute, spreading, about ½ line long. Petals narrow, nearly as long as the calyx. Female flowers solitary in the same axils as the males, on pedicels attaining 1 line when in fruit. Calyx-segments under the fruit broadly ovate, fully 1 line long, the base of the calyx contracted into a distinct stipes. Styles divided to the base into 2 branches. Capsule depressed, orbicular, villous, about 2 lines diameter.^[5]

In Australia, it is found in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.^[3] In Queensland, under the Nature Conservation Act 1992, it is declared a species of "least concern".^[6]