AusTraits

Alyxia spicata

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Family Apocynaceae

Taxonomy: Alyxia spicata R.Br.

Synonyms: 14 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Alyxia spanogheana Miq. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Alyxia tetragona R.Br. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Alyxia thrysifolia P.I.Forst. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Alyxia thyrsiflora Benth. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Alyxia thyrsifolia P.I.Forst. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Fagraea tetragona Span. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Gynopogon spicatum Britten (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Gynopogon spicatus (R.Br.) Britten (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Gynopogon spicatus (R.Br.) Poir. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Gynopogon tetragonus (R.Br.) Poir. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Pulassarium spanogheanum (Miq.) Kuntze (taxonomic synonym)
  • Pulassarium spicatum (R.Br.) Kuntze (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Pulassarium thyrsiflorum (Benth.) Kuntze (taxonomic synonym)
  • Pulassarium thyrsifolium P.I.Forst. (taxonomic synonym)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Alyxia acuminata K.Schum. (pro parte misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, Qld

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (7), ATRP_2020 (1), Brock_1993 (10), Clarke_2015 (3), Cooper_2013 (13), Crowley_2007 (2), Forster_1992 (12), Gallagher_2012 (3), Hyland_2003 (1), Kooyman_2011 (10), NHNSW_2016 (3), NTH_2022 (3), NTH_2023 (15), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), 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 39 traits from 106 records in 22 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): resprouts (4) [sources: Clarke_2015; Crowley_2007; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]
  • post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment_absent (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]
flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 10.5 mm (7-16 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; Forster_1992; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 9 mm (7-13 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; Forster_1992; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 8.5 mm (7-10 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): berry (1); drupe (2); mericarp (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gallagher_2012; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): black (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 1269 mm2 (1269-1269 mm2) [sources: NHNSW_2016]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 94.5 mm (30-110 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Forster_1992; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 34.4 mm (18-40 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Forster_1992; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (3); lanceolate (3); oblong (2); obovate (3); obtriangular (1); ovate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Forster_1992; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): cuneate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2016; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): opposite (1); whorled (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): climber (2); climber_herbaceous (1); climber_woody (4); shrub (4); subshrub (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; ATRP_2020; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; Forster_1992; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (5) [sources: ABRS_2022; Brock_1993; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; Hyland_2003; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • plant_climbing_mechanism (categorical): twining (1) [sources: Gallagher_2012]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): climbing (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (1) [sources: NHNSW_2016]
  • dispersers (categorical): birds (1); cassowaries (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnyyyyynnn (1); ynnnnyyyyyyy (1); yynnnnnnnnny (1) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; WAH_1998]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: RussellSmith_2012]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (3); bud-bearing_root (2); rhizome (2) [sources: Clarke_2015; Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 10.33 mm (8-13 mm) [sources: Forster_1992; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_width (numerical): 8.25 mm (7-9 mm) [sources: Forster_1992; Kooyman_2011]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 4.5 m (4-5 m) [sources: Brock_1993; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
NTH_20231215D. 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/.
Cooper_20131013W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Forster_19921012P. I. Forster. “A taxonomic revision of Alyxia (Apocynaceae) in Australia”. Australian Systematic Botany 5 (1992), pp. 547-580. doi: 10.1071/sb9920547.
Brock_1993810J. Brock and A. Dunlop. Native plants of northern Australia. Reed New Holland, 1993. ISBN: 9781877069246.
Kooyman_2011810R. Kooyman, M. Rossetto, W. Cornwell, and M. Westoby. “Phylogenetic tests of community assembly across regional to continental scales in tropical and subtropical rain forests”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20 (2011), pp. 707-716. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00641.x.
ABRS_202377Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
ABRS_202244Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
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.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.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.
Gallagher_201233R. V. Gallagher and M. R. Leishman. “A global analysis of trait variation and evolution in climbing plants”. Journal of Biogeography 39.10 (2012), pp. 1757-1771. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02773.x.
NHNSW_201633National Herbarium of NSW. Trait measurements for NSW rainforest species from PLantNET. 2016. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
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/.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_201122C. 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_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ATRP_202011F. 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.
Hyland_200311B. P. M. Hyland, T. Whiffin, D. Christophel, B. Gray, and R. W. Elick. Australian tropical rain forest plants trees, shrubs and vines. CSIRO Publishing, 2003. ISBN: 0643068724.
WAH_199811Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
WAH_2023_211Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.