AusTraits

Carex polyantha

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Cyperaceae

Taxonomy: Carex polyantha F.Muell.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Carex cunninghamii Boott (taxonomic synonym)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Carex acuta L. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW, ACT, Vic, Tas

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Jordan_2001 (7), Kew_2019_1 (1), Metcalfe_2020_1 (23), Mokany_2015 (2), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (9), RBGV_2022 (3), RBGV_2023 (9), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (19). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 44 traits from 87 records in 13 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
  • flower_colour (categorical): red_brown (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1); monoecious (3) [sources: Jordan_2001; Metcalfe_2020_1; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 2.5 mm (2-3 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 1.5 mm (1.5-1.5 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 1.5 mm (1.5-1.5 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): nut (3); utricle (3) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (3) [sources: Jordan_2001; Metcalfe_2020_1; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): brown (2); red (2); yellow (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 157.08 mm2 (157.08-157.08 mm2) [sources: Mokany_2015]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 500 mm (200-800 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 6.5 mm (4-9 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; NHNSW_2014_2]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; White_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (3); herb (2); tussock (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
  • life_form (categorical): geophyte (1); hemicryptophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: Jordan_2001; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): vertebrate (1); wind (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; White_2020]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): zoochory (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • dispersers (categorical): invertebrates (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnyyyy (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): vegetative (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; White_2020]
  • clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): belowground_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1]
  • storage_organ (categorical): rhizome (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 1.04 mg (1.04-1.04 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1]
  • seed_length (numerical): 2 mm (1.5-2.5 mm) [sources: Jordan_2001; Metcalfe_2020_1]
  • seed_width (numerical): 1.5 mm (1.5-1.5 mm) [sources: Jordan_2001]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Metcalfe_2020_11923D. Metcalfe. “Unpublished data: Database of Cyperaceae traits, CSIRO”. 2020.
White_20201919M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
NHNSW_202379N. 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_202379VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Jordan_200177G. J. Jordan. “An investigation of long-distance dispersal based on species native to both Tasmania and New Zealand”. Australian Journal of Botany 49.3 (2001), pp. 333-340. doi: 10.1071/bt00024.
NHNSW_2014_244Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
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.
NHNSW_202233N. 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_202233VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Mokany_201522K. Mokany, J. J. Thomson, A. J. J. Lynch, G. J. Jordan, and S. Ferrier. “Linking changes in community composition and function under climate change”. Ecological Applications 25.8 (2015), pp. 2132-2141. doi: 10.1890/14-2384.1.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Kew_2019_111Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.