AusTraits

Alternanthera nana

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Amaranthaceae

Taxonomy: Alternanthera nana R.Br.

Synonyms: 6 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Alternanthera major (Benth.) Domin (taxonomic synonym)
  • Alternanthera nana R.Br. var. nana (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Alternanthera nana var. major Benth. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Alternanthera nana var. robusta O.D.Evans (taxonomic synonym)
  • Alternanthera sp. Meentheena Station (S.van Leeuwen 4508) WA Herbarium (taxonomic synonym)
  • Illecebrum nanum (R.Br.) Spreng. (nomenclatural synonym)

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: ATRP_2020 (2), Draper_2023 (3), Fonseca_2000 (5), Kew_2019_1 (2), Munroe_2019 (1), NHNSW_2014_2 (9), NHNSW_2024 (7), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (17), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (6), Sjostrom_2006 (1), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (19), Wright_2000 (10). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 50 traits from 98 records in 19 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
flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 1.5 mm (1-2 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 1 mm (0.5-1.5 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): utricle (2) [sources: NTH_2023; Wright_2000]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Wright_2000]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (3) [sources: NTH_2023; SAH_2023; Wright_2000]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 20.4 mm2 (20.4-20.4 mm2) [sources: Fonseca_2000]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 18.75 mm (10-25 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 6.58 mm (2.8-10 mm) [sources: Fonseca_2000; NHNSW_2014_2; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 2 mg (2-2 mg) [sources: Fonseca_2000]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 79.37 g/m2 (79.37-79.37 g/m2) [sources: Fonseca_2000]
  • leaf_type (categorical): broadleaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2024]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (3); lanceolate (3); oblanceolate (2); oblong (1); obovate (1); ovate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2); toothed (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_margin_posture (categorical): flat (1); undulate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): opposite (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1); c3-c4 (1) [sources: Munroe_2019; White_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (7); shrub (1) [sources: ATRP_2020; Fonseca_2000; NTH_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (3); short_lived_perennial (2) [sources: NTH_2022; SAH_2022; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4); woody (1) [sources: NTH_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): decumbent (1); erect (3); prostrate (3); spreading (1) [sources: ATRP_2020; NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): abiotic (1); insect (1); wind (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): hydrochory (1); zoochory (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
  • dispersers (categorical): abiotic (1); animals (1); water (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnyyyyyynnn (1); yyyyynnnyyyy (1) [sources: WAH_1998; White_2020]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1); vegetative (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.37 mg (0.33-0.4 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1]
  • seed_shape (categorical): lenticular (2) [sources: NTH_2023; SAH_2023]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
White_20201919M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
NTH_20231317D. 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/.
Wright_20001010I. 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.
NHNSW_2014_279Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202457N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on December, 2023.. 2024. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
SAH_202356S. 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/.
Fonseca_200055C. 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.
NTH_202244D. 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/.
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.
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/.
ATRP_202022F. A. Zich, B. P. Hyland, T. Whiffin, and R. A. Kerrigan. Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, Edition 8. 2020. url: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/intro/index.html.
Kew_2019_112Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. 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.
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.
Sjostrom_200611A. 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.
WAH_199811Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.