AusTraits

Acacia pulchella

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Acacia pulchella R.Br.

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Acacia pulchella f. aculeata Voss (taxonomic synonym)
  • Mimosa pulchella (R.Br.) Poir. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Racosperma pulchellum (R.Br.) Pedley (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA, NSW (naturalised)

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (23), Burrows_2008_2 (7), Burrows_2020 (7), Chen_2017 (4), Clarke_2015 (3), Collette_2021 (1), Draper_2023 (3), Enright_2014 (9), Gallagher_2011_1 (1), Goble_1981 (2), Harvey_2017 (6), Kew_2019_1 (3), Kew_2019_4 (1), Kew_2019_5 (1), Kew_2019_6 (2), Laliberte_2012 (9), Manea_2011 (1), Maslin_2012 (13), Munroe_2019 (1), NHNSW_2023 (1), Pate_1990 (4), Pekin_2011 (4), Pickup_2021 (5), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (11), Schmidt_1993 (2), Shedley_2007 (5), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Standish_2019 (7), Stephens_2021 (1), Sweedman_2006 (4), Tsakalos_2022 (2), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wilson_2004 (3), Wright_2000 (3), vanderMoezel_1987 (5). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 60 traits from 172 records in 40 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response
  • resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (15) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Clarke_2015; Enright_2014; Harvey_2017; Pate_1990; Pekin_2011; Pickup_2021; Shedley_2007; Standish_2019; Wilson_2004; vanderMoezel_1987]
  • post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (9) [sources: Clarke_2015; Enright_2014; Pate_1990; Pickup_2021; Shedley_2007; vanderMoezel_1987]
  • fire_time_from_fire_to_flowering (numerical): 24 mo (24-24 mo) [sources: Burrows_2020]
flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): andromonoecious (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 31.25 mm (15-50 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 4 mm (3-5 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): legume (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; Chen_2017; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Chen_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (2) [sources: Chen_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 317.33 mm2 (5.96-651.86 mm2) [sources: Goble_1981; Laliberte_2012]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 4.25 mm (1-15 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 1.17 mm (0.5-2 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012; SAH_2023]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 0.32 cm (0.05-0.6 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 139.73 g/m2 (120.72-149 g/m2) [sources: Goble_1981; Laliberte_2012]
  • leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.45 g/g (0.42-0.47 g/g) [sources: Laliberte_2012]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): oblanceolate (1); oblong (2); obovate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012]
  • leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_glaucousness (categorical): glaucous (1); not_glaucous (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012; SAH_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Munroe_2019]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (10) [sources: ABRS_2022; Laliberte_2012; Maslin_2012; Pickup_2021; SAH_2022; Schmidt_1993; Shedley_2007; Standish_2019; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (9) [sources: ABRS_2022; Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Maslin_2012; Pekin_2011; SAH_2022; Standish_2019; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: Maslin_2012]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): nitrogen_fixer (3) [sources: Laliberte_2012; Pekin_2011; Standish_2019]
  • root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (4); ectomycorrhizal (1) [sources: Laliberte_2012; Pekin_2011; Schmidt_1993; Standish_2019]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (1) [sources: Draper_2023]
  • reproductive_maturity (numerical): 2 a (2-2 a) [sources: Burrows_2020]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): ballistic (1); myrmecochory (1); zoochory (1) [sources: Draper_2023; Kew_2019_5]
  • dispersers (categorical): ants (1) [sources: Draper_2023]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnyynnn (1); nnnnyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: Stephens_2021; vanderMoezel_1987]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): canopy_seedbank_absent (1); soil_seedbank (7) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Enright_2014; Harvey_2017; Pickup_2021; Shedley_2007; Standish_2019]
  • serotiny (categorical): not_serotinous (1) [sources: Harvey_2017]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: Pickup_2021]
  • seed_dormancy_class (categorical): physical_dormancy (1) [sources: Collette_2021]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2022]
  • clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): non_clonal (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2022]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Clarke_2015]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 8.04 mg (3.7-11 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1; Standish_2019]
  • seed_length (numerical): 4 mm (2.5-4.5 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012]
  • seed_shape (categorical): ellipsoid (1); orbicular (1); ovoid_elongated (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012; SAH_2023]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 1.29 m (0.3-3 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
ABRS_20231423Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Maslin_20121013B. Maslin. WATTLE, Interactive Identification of Australian Acacia. Version 2. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, 2014.
SAH_2023911S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
Enright_201439N. J. Enright, J. B. Fontaine, B. B. Lamont, B. P. Miller, and V. C. Westcott. “Resistance and resilience to changing climate and fire regime depend on plant functional traits”. Journal of Ecology 102 (2014), pp. 1572-1581. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.12306.
Laliberte_201269E. Laliberte, B. L. Turner, T. Costes, S. J. Pearse, K. Wyrwoll, G. Zemunik, and H. Lambers. “Experimental assessment of nutrient limitation along a 2-million-year dune chronosequence in the south-western Australia biodiversity hotspot”. Journal of Ecology 100 (2012), pp. 631-642. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2012.01962.x.
Burrows_2008_277N. D. Burrows, G. Wardell-Johnson, and B. Ward. “Post-fire juvenile period of plants in south-west Australia forests and implications for fire management”. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 91 (2008), pp. 163-174. ISSN: 0035922X. url: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/19156 (visited on 03/27/2025).
Burrows_202077N. Burrows. Data from 'Plant Ecological Attributes' theme, NatureMap, DBCA, WA. 2020.
Standish_201977R. Standish. “Unpublished data: Jarrah forest, Murdoch University”. 2019.
Harvey_201766J. M. Harvey, A. J. M. Hopkins, M. A. Langley, C. R. Gosper, M. R. Williams, and C. J. Yates. “Long-term studies of post-fire reproduction in an Australian shrubland and woodland”. Australian Journal of Botany 65.4 (2017), p. 339. doi: 10.1071/bt17011.
Pickup_202155M. Pickup and T. McDonald. Bushfire impacts — A national model for assessing local landscape restoration priorities. Project Phoenix Report. Greening Australia, 2021. url: https://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1.02R2.pdf.
Shedley_200755E. F. Shedley. Fire and Biodiversity Guidelines for the Avon Basin: Consultant Report to the Avon Catchment Council and the Department of Environment and Conservation, August 2007. Tech. rep. Department of Environment and Conservation, Western Australia, 2007.
vanderMoezel_198755P. G. van der Moezel, W. A. Loneragan, and D. T. Bell. “Northern Sandplain Kwongan - regeneration following fire, juvenile period and flowering phenology”. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 69.4 (1987), pp. 123-132.
Chen_201744Chen, S.-C., Cornwell, W., Z. H.-X., Moles, and A. T. “Plants show more flesh in the tropics: Variation in fruit type along latitudinal and climatic gradients.”. Ecography 40 (2017), pp. 531-538. doi: abs/10.1111/ecog.02010.
Pate_199044J. S. Pate, R. H. Froend, B. J. Bowen, A. Hansen, and J. Kuo. “Seedling growth and storage characteristics of seeder and resprouter species of Mediterranean-type ecosystems of SW Australia”. Annals of Botany 65.6 (1990), pp. 585-601. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a087976.
Pekin_201144B. K. Pekin, R. S. Wittkuhn, M. M. Boer, C. Macfarlane, and P. F. Grierson. “Plant functional traits along environmental gradients in seasonally dry and fire-prone ecosystem”. Journal of Vegetation Science 22 (2011), pp. 1009-1020. doi: 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2011.01323.x.
Sjostrom_200644A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
Sweedman_200624L. Sweedman and D. Merritt. Australian Seeds: A Guide to Their Collection, Identification, and Biology. CSIRO Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780643094079.
ABRS_202233Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Clarke_201533P. J. Clarke, M. J. Lawes, B. P. Murphy, J. Russell-Smith, C. E. Nano, R. Bradstock, N. J. Enright, J. B. Fontaine, C. R. Gosper, I. Radford, J. J. Midgley, and R. M. Gunton. “A synthesis of postfire recovery traits of woody plants in Australian ecosystems”. Science of The Total Environment 534 (2015), pp. 31-42. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.002.
Draper_202333J. T. Draper, S. Delean, J. G. Conran, P. Weinstein, and B. S. Simpson. “Life-history characteristics and climate correlates of dioecious plant species in central southern Australia”. Australian Journal of Botany unknown.unknown (2023), p. unknown. doi: 10.1071/BT22110.
Kew_2019_113Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
SAH_202233S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_233Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wilson_200423B. A. Wilson, J. Kuehs, L. E. Valentine, T. Sonneman, and K. M. Wolfe. “Guidelines for ecological burning regimes in Mediterranean ecosystems: a case study in Banksia woodlands in Western Australia”. Pacific Conservation Biology 20.1 (2014), p. 57. doi: 10.1071/pc140057.
Wright_200033I. J. Wright, H. T. Clifford, R. Kidson, M. L. Reed, B. L. Rice, and M. Westoby. “A survey of seed and seedling characters in 1744 Australian dicotyledon species: Cross-species trait correlations and correlated trait-shifts within evolutionary lineages”. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 69 (2000), pp. 521-547. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2000.tb01222.x.
Goble_198122E. Goble-Garratt, D. Bell, and W. Loneragan. “Floristic and leaf structure patterns along a shallow elevational gradient”. Australian Journal of Botany 29 (1981), pp. 329-347. doi: 10.1071/bt9810329.
Kew_2019_612Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Germination data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Schmidt_199322S. Schmidt. “Unpublished data: Compilation of mycorrhizal status data, University of Queensland”. 1993.
Tsakalos_202222J. L. Tsakalos, G. Ottaviani, S. Chelli, A. Rea, S. Elder, M. P. Dobrowolski, and L. Mucina. “Plant clonality in a soil-impoverished open ecosystem: insights from southwest Australian shrublands”. Annals of Botany 130.7 (2022), pp. 981-990. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcac131.
WAH_2023_212Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Collette_202111J. C. Collette and M. K. J. Ooi. “Distribution of seed dormancy classes across a fire-prone continent: effects of rainfall seasonality and temperature”. Annals of Botany 127.5 (2021), pp. 613-620. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcaa203.
Gallagher_2011_111R. V. Gallagher, M. R. Leishman, J. T. Miller, C. Hui, D. M. Richardson, J. Suda, and P. Travnicek. “Invasiveness in introduced Australian acacias: The role of species traits and genome size”. Diversity and Distributions 17 (2011), pp. 884-897. doi: 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2011.00805.x.
Kew_2019_411Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Oil content data from Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Kew_2019_511Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed dispersal data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Manea_201111A. Manea. “Unpublished data: Dispersal appendage data for Acacia via Worldwide Wattle, Macquarie University”. 2011.
Munroe_201911S. E. M. Munroe, F. A. McInerney, J. Andrae, N. Welti, G. R. Guerin, E. Leitch, T. Hall, S. Szarvas, R. Atkins, S. Caddy-Retalic, and B. Sparrow. “The Photosynthetic Pathways of Plant Species Surveyed in Australia's National Terrestrial Monitoring Network”. Scientific Data 8 (2021), p. 97. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-00877-z.
NHNSW_202311N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Stephens_202111R. Stephens. “Unpublished data: Flowering time data from TERN plots, Macquarie University.”. 2021.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.