Medicinal Herbs

Bitter Phyllanthus Extract

Phyllanthus amarus

Bitter phyllanthus (Phyllanthus amarus) is a herb of the spurge family that grows wild in Vietnam and is commonly gathered and used mixed with Phyllanthus urinaria, the plant Vietnamese call chó đẻ răng cưa: an annual some 30cm high, its stem erect and often flushed red, with little oblong leaves set in two ranks along the branchlets like a feather. On that plant the minute round fruits, barely 2mm across, dangle beneath the leaf, the habit named in diệp hạ châu, pearl beneath the leaf. The whole plant is pulled, in any season though summer is best, and used fresh or dried. The herb carries a bitter substance.