This pops up in several areas of my yard

underside of leaves showing seeds? spores? they go along the stem

another shot. In mid to late summer the seeds/spores are larger and kind of a golden color

I found something similar, Randia aculeata-- White Indigo Berry in the family Rubiaceae. Yours appears to be either a young plant or it's something totally different, it's hard to say without getting a closer look at the leaf texture etc. The berries look immature.

http://www.rarefloweringtrees....

http://www.shirleydenton.com/p...

http://irrecenvhort.ifas.ufl.e...

Have you seen the flowers? Have the plants been around long?

It's native to Florida, grows 2 to 6 metres tall..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...

I've seen this all my life. It stays small (short). I think it's in the partridge pea family or senna (cassia) family. Those little things on the backs of the leaves will stick on fabric or animals hair. They mush when you try to pick them off & it's not exactly like sap but it's sort of sticky like sugar.

I first thought Fabiaceae but the pods are usually flattened on those, will see what I can find unless somebody else knows what it is.

Oh Ginger, I think I have the same plant that has self set in a pot and that must have smuggled itself into a packet send to me from Brazil with a off shoot of an Anthurium from a friends' garden there..
Would you mind me posting it in your thread? mine has tiny flowers..

I had thought the habit was like Sarcococca which is in Buxaceae. It makes small flowers under the leaves and later berries, finding the correct family isn't always so easy.

I am interested to see yours too Myriam, of course!

Thanks, I 'recognized' my plant from seeing it in many spots in Leana's 'lawn' , they were all small not taller than 25cm, but of course could have been seedlings of shrubs or trees, the flowers though are very tiny (1-2 mm) The leaves are very thin, feel very soft to the touch, small too with only 6-7mm, last year it grew about 15 cm, this year it became nearly 30cm..
last year

this year

A little like Cotoneaster horizontalis too in habit, thanks Myriam, yours does look much the same if not the same. Flowers can help too.

Myriam...yours does look the same...especially the second pic. I had never noticed flowers before. Just went out and pulled one and sure enough teeny tiny flowers. No macro lens, so would be very hard to get a pic. The one I took pictures of was small, but left alone it can get to over a foot...not usually taller as it gets whacked. So any conclusions on what we have? Haven't looked at the links yet.

OK...looked at the links and I don't think that it is Randia aculeata.

Yes, Ginger the flowers are really very tiny somewhere between 1 and 2mm!
I see you are living in zone 8a the same as mine, if yours grows outside then it might be hardy in my garden too
I have taken it inside to overwinter with the Anthurium wherein it has set it self
I kind of find it a pretty and gentle thing. I have the impression it doesn't get taller than 30cm, that might be its mature height..

No, I have no clue what it could be, not even its family.
When I saw it in my friend's garden in Brazil I first thought it were seedlings of the Flamboyant tree or a relative, as the leaves look like miniature versions of them, but seeing the flowers on mine and the berries on yours that cannot be..
But then she had no Flamboyant tree in her garden, nor was there any in the immediate surroundings...

Mine just pops up...no care no nada. A weed? a native plant? no clue. Wish I were good at being able to ID stuff, but I'm not. Still on dial-up and clueless as to "key words". Plus I'm still getting used to my eyes after cataract surgery...so I depend on those who know what they are doing There are a lot of pretty flowers that are wild in my yard, so come spring I know I'll be needing bunches of help.

Florida's zone 8a won't be the same as ours Myriam, that only reflects the expected maximum minimum temperature which is around -12C, we can every so many years get well below that. It doesn't at all reflect the seasons and heat, Florida will not only get heat it will get much longer seasons. Even in winter time the days are likely to be much warmer than we get so plants can survive much more easily outside. Day length is another factor, ours are short over winter. The zone should indicate a plants ability to survive but it doesn't.

I've looked at several families, I'm none the wiser.

I don't know what it is either but I can tell you that it also grows in zone 10 Florida even 1 mile from the ocean so it's able to take salt air & that zone plus terrible drought. I've lived with this plant most if not all my life as I said before. It was always a "weed". Like you say ginger --- just pops up, no care, no nada. I have no clue if it's a native or an invasive.
Since you posted it I'm curious to know what it is.
I hope Myriam & Janet can solve the riddle.

Me too. Never really cared before, but now I want to know whats growing in my yard...not that I'll remember this time next week Eyeballs are tired...I'm outta here

Thanks Janet for looking!
Yes, that makes sense, living in the same zone meaning something different for different latitudes!

Interesting Ann, the garden of my friend in Brazil is also close by the sea, the zone must be similar too.

My plant is Phyllanthus and probably Phyllanthus amara, but not 100% garantueed, (my thanks to Tony Rodd for the ID!)
I looked in Flora do Brasil and found 93 species for Brasil!
http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov....

I could narrow that down to 23 species for the state Rio de janeiro.

P.acutifolius
P.amarus
P.arenicola
P.angustinii
P.debilis
P.glaziovii
P.Itatiaiensis
P.juglandifolius
P.juglandifolius subsp. Juglandifolius
P.minutulus
P.mocotensis
P. ramosus
P.riedelianus

Impossible to find images of all, or not detailed enough, but I find these images of P.amara really spot on!
http://128.253.177.189/cgi-bin...

I'm not sure if yours is the same specie Ginger, but at least it is a Phyllanthus sp.

Congratulations!

Thanks Janet!