Japanese name: コバンノキ（小判木） Scientific name:Phyllanthus flexuosus
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 2–3 m tall, found on riverbanks and cliffs in the mountains of warm regions.
It branches well.
Twigs often emerge horizontally in pairs from the leaf axils of the previous year and extend to about 10 cm long.
On the twigs, 5–7 pairs of leaves are arranged alternately in two rows, so at first glance they look like pinnately compound leaves.
The leaves are simple, ovate to elliptical, 2–4 cm long, and hairless on both sides.
The underside of the leaf is whitish.
The leaf margin is entire.
The petiole is 2–3 mm long.
There are male and female flowers, borne in clusters of 4–6 in the leaf axils.
Male flowers are borne at the base of the branch, and male and female flowers in the upper part.
Neither male nor female flowers have petals; the calyx of the male flowers is dark purple and that of the female flowers is pale green.
The fruit is a spherical berry 6 mm across, ripening black.
The flowering twigs fall off whole in autumn.
At the tips of the branches there are twigs that bear no flowers; these branch and grow on to become the next year's branches.
[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from the leaf shape resembling a koban (an oval gold coin).
