Alysicarpus vaginalis

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Alysicarpus vaginalis (L.) DC.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Hedysarum vaginale L. (nomenclatural synonym)

Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Alysicarpus rugosus (Willd.) DC. (pro parte misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), CoI (naturalised), ChI (naturalised), NT (naturalised), Qld (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Crowley_2007 (2), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (19), Nano_2011 (2), Schmidt_2003 (8), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (1), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 29 traits from 47 records in 10 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 (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 12.5 mm (9-16 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 2 mm (2-2 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): legume (2) [sources: NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): grey (1) [sources: NTH_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 29 mm (7-51 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 13.5 mm (5-22 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); lanceolate (1); oblong (1); obovate (1); orbicular (1); ovate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (1); simple (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NTH_2023]

life history

plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (4) [sources: NTH_2022; Schmidt_2003; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): annual (2); perennial (2) [sources: NTH_2022; Schmidt_2003; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3) [sources: NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1); prostrate (2); spreading (1) [sources: NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 25 mg/g (25-25 mg/g) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
leaf_delta13C (numerical): -29.54 {delta}[ppth] (-29.54--29.54 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Schmidt_2003]

seed morphology

seed_length (numerical): 1.9 mm (1.6-2.2 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
seed_width (numerical): 1.4 mm (1.2-1.6 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
seed_shape (categorical): ovoid_elongated (1) [sources: NTH_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.5 m (0.5-0.5 m) [sources: NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
NTH_2023	14	19	D. 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/.
Schmidt_2003	8	8	S. Schmidt and G. R. Stewart. “d15N values of tropical savanna and monsoon forest species reflect root specialisations and soil nitrogen status”. Oecologia 134 (2003), pp. 569-577. doi: 10.1007/s00442-002-1150-y.
NTH_2022	4	4	D. 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/.
Sjostrom_2006	4	4	A. 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_2022_2	4	4	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Crowley_2007	2	2	G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_2011	2	2	C. 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.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
WAH_2023_2	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.