Phyllanthus vitis-idea (Burm.f.) D.Koenig ex Roxb.
Rhamnus vitis-idaea Burm.f.
Breynia vitis-idaea, the officinal breynia, is a perennial tree-like species of Phyllanthaceae (Euphorbiaceaes.l.), found from India east to Taiwan and Okinawa and south to Indonesia. It is a shrub or treelet with egg-shaped leaves that can reach up to 3 m tall. It has staminate flowers and spherical, red fruit.
Breynia vitis-idaea is pollinated by the leafflower mothEpicephala vitisidaea in Fujian, China and the Ryukyu Archipelago, Japan. The moth actively pollinates the flowers, but lays an egg into the space between the external carpel wall and the tepals. The moth caterpillars consume a subset of the tree's seeds, receiving nourishment in return.[3][4]
^Kawakita, A.; Kato, M. 2004. Obligate pollination mutualism in Breynia (Phyllanthaceae): further documentation of pollination mutualism involving Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae). American Journal of Botany. 91: 1319–1325.
^Zhang, J., Hu, B., Wang, S. & Li, H. (2012). "Six new species of Epicephala Meyrick, 1880 (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) associated with Phyllanthaceae plants." Zootaxa 3275: 43-54.
^ abJ. K. Aronson. Meyler's Side Effects of Herbal Medicines. Elsevier, 2008. p. 119. ISBN978-0-444-53269-5