AusTraits

Acacia tetragonophylla

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Acacia tetragonophylla F.Muell.

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Acacia genistioides Tate (taxonomic synonym)
  • Acacia genistoides A.Cunn. ex Benth. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Racosperma tetragonophyllum (F.Muell.) Pedley (nomenclatural synonym)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Acacia sphacelata Benth. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, SA, Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (16), ANBG_2019 (6), Burrows_2008_2 (5), Burrows_2020 (5), Chen_2017 (4), Clarke_2015 (3), Collette_2021 (1), Crowley_2007 (2), Curtis_2012 (14), Dong_2017 (22), Draper_2023 (3), Fonseca_2000 (13), Gallagher_2011_1 (1), Gallagher_2011_3 (1), Ilic_2000 (2), Jurado_1991 (5), Jurado_1992 (3), Kew_2019_1 (5), Kew_2019_4 (1), Kew_2019_5 (2), Kew_2019_6 (8), Leishman_1992 (7), Manea_2011 (1), Maslin_2012 (12), Munroe_2019 (1), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (13), NSWFRD_2014 (8), NTH_2022 (3), NTH_2023 (15), Nano_2011 (4), Pate_1998 (6), RussellSmith_2012 (4), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (14), Schulze_2014 (88), Shedley_2007 (5), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Sweedman_2006 (4), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Westoby_2014 (14), White_2020 (19), Wright_2000 (3). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 87 traits from 370 records in 48 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 (7); partial_resprouting (2); resprouts (2) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Clarke_2015; Crowley_2007; NSWFRD_2014; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012; Shedley_2007; White_2020]
  • post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1); post_fire_recruitment_absent (3) [sources: Clarke_2015; NSWFRD_2014; Nano_2011; Shedley_2007]
  • fire_time_from_fire_to_flowering (numerical): 84 mo (84-84 mo) [sources: Burrows_2020]
flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): andromonoecious (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 82.5 mm (30-130 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 5.38 mm (3-8 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): legume (6) [sources: ABRS_2023; Chen_2017; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Chen_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Chen_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): brown (1) [sources: SAH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 18.32 mm2 (3.9-134 mm2) [sources: Curtis_2012; Fonseca_2000; Jurado_1991; Leishman_1992; Schulze_2014; Westoby_2014]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 28.62 mm (10-50 mm) [sources: Curtis_2012; ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 1.01 mm (0.7-2 mm) [sources: Curtis_2012; Fonseca_2000; ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 5.89 mg (4-8.56 mg) [sources: Curtis_2012; Fonseca_2000]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 486.68 g/m2 (270.27-864.78 g/m2) [sources: Curtis_2012; Dong_2017; Fonseca_2000; Gallagher_2011_3; Schulze_2014; Westoby_2014]
  • leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.45 g/g (0.45-0.45 g/g) [sources: Curtis_2012]
  • leaf_type (categorical): needle (1) [sources: Schulze_2014]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): linear (3); subulate (2); terete (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (1); simple (2) [sources: Maslin_2012; NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_glaucousness (categorical): glaucous (1); not_glaucous (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • leaf_arrangement (categorical): clustered (2); fasciculate (2); scattered (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2); phyllode (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023; Schulze_2014]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (3) [sources: Munroe_2019; Pate_1998; White_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (13); tree (8) [sources: ABRS_2022; Curtis_2012; Fonseca_2000; Jurado_1991; Leishman_1992; Maslin_2012; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; NTH_2022; Pate_1998; SAH_2022; Shedley_2007; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (12) [sources: ABRS_2022; Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Curtis_2012; Leishman_1992; Maslin_2012; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; Pate_1998; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (6) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1); spreading (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (2) [sources: Maslin_2012; Schulze_2014]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): nitrogen_fixer (4) [sources: Dong_2017; Pate_1998; Schulze_2014; White_2020]
  • parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (2) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
  • reproductive_maturity (numerical): 7 a (7-7 a) [sources: Burrows_2020]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (1); zoochory (3) [sources: Draper_2023; Kew_2019_5; White_2020]
  • dispersers (categorical): invertebrates (1); vertebrates (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnyyyynn (2); nnnnnyyyyynn (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014; White_2020]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (4) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; NSWFRD_2014; Shedley_2007]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (3) [sources: NSWFRD_2014; RussellSmith_2012; White_2020]
  • seed_dormancy_class (categorical): physical_dormancy (1) [sources: Collette_2021]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • storage_organ (categorical): no_storage_organ (1) [sources: Leishman_1992]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_buds (1); basal_stem_buds (2); epicormic_buds (2); none (4) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Clarke_2015; Crowley_2007; NSWFRD_2014; Nano_2011]
nutrient and stable isotope
  • leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 17.59 mg/g (13.84-25.6 mg/g) [sources: Dong_2017; Schulze_2014]
  • leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 0.7 mg/g (0.27-1.33 mg/g) [sources: Schulze_2014]
  • leaf_delta13C (numerical): -26.62 {delta}[ppth] (-29.57--24.9 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Dong_2017; Pate_1998; Schulze_2014]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 10.74 mg (4.23-16.67 mg) [sources: ANBG_2019; Kew_2019_1; Leishman_1992]
  • seed_length (numerical): 6.1 mm (4-8.05 mm) [sources: ANBG_2019; ABRS_2023; Maslin_2012]
  • seed_width (numerical): 3.82 mm (3.82-3.82 mm) [sources: ANBG_2019]
  • seed_shape (categorical): ellipsoid (2); ovoid (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; ANBG_2019; Maslin_2012]
stem morphology
  • wood_density (numerical): 0.96 mg/mm3 (0.87-1 mg/mm3) [sources: Ilic_2000; Westoby_2014]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 3.78 m (1.4-6 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; Leishman_1992; Maslin_2012; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]
  • plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1); sharp_pointed_defence (1) [sources: Schulze_2014; White_2020]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Schulze_20141388E. D. Schulze, D. Nicolle, A. Boerner, M. Lauerer, G. Aas, and I. Schulze. “Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of Eucalyptus and Acacia species along a seasonal rainfall gradient in Western Australia”. Trees 28.4 (2014), pp. 1125-1135. doi: 10.1007/s00468-014-1023-0.
Dong_2017822N. Dong, I. C. Prentice, B. J. Evans, S. Caddy-Retalic, A. J. Lowe, and I. J. Wright. “Leaf nitrogen from first principles: field evidence for adaptive variation with climate”. Biogeosciences 14.2 (2017), pp. 481-495. doi: 10.5194/bg-14-481-2017.
White_20201919M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
ABRS_20231216Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NTH_20231115D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Curtis_20121414E. M. Curtis, A. Leigh, and S. Rayburg. “Relationships among leaf traits of Australian arid zone plants: alternative modes of thermal protection”. Australian Journal of Botany 60.6 (2012), pp. 471-483. doi: 10.1071/bt11284.
SAH_20231014S. 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/.
Westoby_2014814S. M. Gleason, D. W. Butler, K. Zieminska, P. Waryszak, and M. Westoby. “Stem xylem conductivity is key to plant water balance across Australian angiosperm species”. Functional Ecology 26 (2012), pp. 343-352. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.01962.x.
Fonseca_2000513C. R. Fonseca, J. M. Overton, B. Collins, and M. Westoby. “Shifts in trait-combinations along rainfall and phosphorus gradients”. Journal of Ecology 88 (2000), pp. 964-977. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2745.2000.00506.x.
NHNSW_2023913N. 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/.
Maslin_20121012B. Maslin. WATTLE, Interactive Identification of Australian Acacia. Version 2. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, 2014.
Kew_2019_618Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Germination data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
NSWFRD_201488B. Kenny, C. Orscheg, E. Tasker, M. A. Gill, and R. Bradstock. NSW Flora Fire Response Database, v2.1. database. NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, 2014.
Leishman_199277M. R. Leishman and M. Westoby. “Classifying plants into groups on the basis of associations of individual traits-Evidence from Australian semi-arid woodlands”. Journal of Ecology 80 (1992), pp. 417-424. doi: 10.2307/2260687.
ANBG_201966Australian National Botanic Gardens. The National Seed Bank. 2018. url: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/living/seedbank/.
Pate_199866J. S. Pate, M. J. Unkovich, P. D. Erskine, and G. R. Stewart. “Australian mulga ecosystems- 13C and 15N natural abundances of biota components and their ecophysiological significance”. Plant, Cell and Environment 21.12 (1998), pp. 1231-1242. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3040.1998.00359.x.
Burrows_2008_255N. 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_202055N. Burrows. Data from 'Plant Ecological Attributes' theme, NatureMap, DBCA, WA. 2020.
Jurado_199155E. Jurado. “Diaspore weight, dispersal, growth form and perenniality of central Australian plants”. Journal of Ecology 79 (1991), pp. 811-828.
Kew_2019_115Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
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.
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.
NHNSW_2014_244Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202244N. 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.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Nano_201134C. E. M. Nano and P. J. Clarke. “How do drought and fire influence the patterns of resprouting in Australian deserts?”. Plant Ecology 212 (2011), pp. 2095-2110. doi: 10.1007/s11258-011-9988-x.
RussellSmith_201244J. Russell-Smith, M. R. Gardener, C. Brock, K. Brennan, C. P. Yates, and B. Grace. “Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales - an Australian example”. Journal of Biogeography 39 (2012), pp. 1657-1668. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02714.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.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
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.
Jurado_199213E. Jurado and M. Westoby. “Germination biology of selected central Australian plants”. Austral Ecology 17.3 (1992), pp. 341-348. doi: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1992.tb00816.x.
NTH_202233D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
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/.
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.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Ilic_200012J. Ilic, D. Boland, M. McDonald, D. G, and P. Blakemore. Woody density phase 1 - State of knowledge. National Carbon Accounting System. Technical Report 18. Tech. rep. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, Australia, 2000.
Kew_2019_512Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed dispersal data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
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.
Gallagher_2011_311R. 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/.
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.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.