Carduus pycnocephalus

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Asteraceae

Taxonomy: Carduus pycnocephalus L.

Synonyms: none listed in the APC 2026-07-30

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised), NI (naturalised), ACT (naturalised), Vic (naturalised), Tas (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (8), Burrows_2008_2 (5), Burrows_2020 (5), Cheal_2017 (5), Doherty_2021 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (3), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (14), RBGV_2022 (3), RBGV_2023 (14), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (14), Standish_2019 (7), WAH_2022_1 (4), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 31 traits from 103 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

resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (4) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Doherty_2021; Standish_2019]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1) [sources: Cheal_2017]
fire_time_from_fire_to_flowering (numerical): 12 mo (12-12 mo) [sources: Burrows_2020]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1); pink (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 4.64 mm (4-5.3 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): achene (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
fruit_colour (categorical): brown (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 130.56 mm (50-200 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 54.44 mm (20-80 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): oblanceolate (3); oblong (1); triangular (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): toothed (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]
leaf_lobation (categorical): lobed (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]

life history

plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (8) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; Standish_2019; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): annual (11); biennial (2) [sources: ABRS_2022; Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Cheal_2017; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; Standish_2019; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (7) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): dense (1); erect (1); rosette (2) [sources: RBGV_2023; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Standish_2019]
root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Standish_2019]
reproductive_maturity (numerical): 1 a (1-1 a) [sources: Burrows_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnnyyn (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
seedbank_location (categorical): none (2); soil_seedbank (2) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Burrows_2020; Doherty_2021; Standish_2019]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): widely_dispersed (1) [sources: Cheal_2017]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Burrows_2008_2; Doherty_2021]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 5.33 mg (5.33-5.33 mg) [sources: Standish_2019]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.84 m (0.2-1.2 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
NHNSW_2023	9	14	N. 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/.
RBGV_2023	11	14	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_2023	9	14	S. 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/.
ABRS_2023	7	8	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Standish_2019	7	7	R. Standish. “Unpublished data: Jarrah forest, Murdoch University”. 2019.
Burrows_2008_2	5	5	N. 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_2020	5	5	N. Burrows. Data from 'Plant Ecological Attributes' theme, NatureMap, DBCA, WA. 2020.
Cheal_2017	5	5	D. Cheal. Growth stages and tolerable fire intervals for Victoria's native vegetation data sets. Fire and adaptive management, report no. 84. Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment Melbourne, 2010.
WAH_2022_1	4	4	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
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/.
ABRS_2022	3	3	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Doherty_2021	3	3	M. Doherty. “Fire Severity and Plant Community Dynamics in the Australian Alps, Southeastern New South Wales”. PhD. Australian National University, 2021. url: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/224564.
NHNSW_2014_2	3	3	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2022	3	3	N. 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/.
RBGV_2022	3	3	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_2022	3	3	S. 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_2023_2	1	2	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.