AusTraits

Carissa ovata

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Apocynaceae

Taxonomy: Carissa ovata R.Br.

Synonyms: 11 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Carissa brownii F.Muell. (pro parte taxonomic synonym)
  • Carissa brownii var. ovata (R.Br.) Maiden & Betche (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Carissa ovata R.Br. var. ovata (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Carissa ovata f. 'large-leaved' (taxonomic synonym)
  • Carissa ovata f. 'small-leaved' (taxonomic synonym)
  • Carissa ovata var. pubescens F.M.Bailey (taxonomic synonym)
  • Carissa ovata var. stolonifera F.M.Bailey (taxonomic synonym)
  • Carissa stolonifera A.D.Chapm. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Carissa stolonifera Leeuwenb. & Dilst (taxonomic synonym)
  • Carissa stolonifera P.I.Forst. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Jasminonerium ovatum (R.Br.) Kuntze (nomenclatural synonym)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Carissa spinarum L. (pro parte misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (23), BRAIN_2007 (1), Butler_2004 (5), Clarke_2015 (6), Cooper_2013 (14), Curran_2009 (204), Dwyer_2018 (8), Hyland_2003 (1), Kooyman_2011 (13), McCarthy_2017 (5), NHNSW_2014_2 (11), NHNSW_2016 (1), NTH_2022 (3), NTH_2023 (12), RadfordSmith_2024 (38), Stewart_1995 (8), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (1), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (20), Wright_2000 (5). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 74 traits from 390 records in 23 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): white_cream (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 16 mm (10-22 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 10.75 mm (7-15 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 10.5 mm (7-14 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): berry (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): black (1); purple (1); red (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 943.11 mm2 (80-4620 mm2) [sources: Curran_2009; NHNSW_2016; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 25.75 mm (5-55 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 19.88 mm (4-40 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 43.77 mg (20.52-73.75 mg) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 0.2 cm (0.1-0.3 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 138.79 g/m2 (98.09-194.17 g/m2) [sources: Curran_2009; Dwyer_2018; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.43 g/g (0.38-0.46 g/g) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024]
  • leaf_type (categorical): broadleaf (1) [sources: Stewart_1995]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); orbicular (1); ovate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): rounded (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1); opposite (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_inclination_angle (numerical): 32.8 deg (16.67-59.17 deg) [sources: Curran_2009]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: Stewart_1995; White_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): climber (1); climber_woody (2); shrub (9) [sources: ABRS_2022; Butler_2004; Cooper_2013; Curran_2009; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2022; Stewart_1995; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (5) [sources: ABRS_2022; Hyland_2003; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): climbing (1); open (1); sprawling (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2014_2; WAH_2022_2]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (4) [sources: Curran_2009; Kooyman_2011; RadfordSmith_2024; Stewart_1995]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (2) [sources: Stewart_1995; White_2020]
  • parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (4) [sources: BRAIN_2007; Butler_2004; RadfordSmith_2024; White_2020]
  • dispersers (categorical): birds (2); mammals (1); vertebrates (1) [sources: Butler_2004; Cooper_2013; White_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnny (1); yyyyyynnnnnn (1); yyyyyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): transient (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2) [sources: Clarke_2015]
nutrient and stable isotope
  • leaf_delta13C (numerical): -26.6 {delta}[ppth] (-26.6--26.6 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Stewart_1995]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 6.5 mm (6-7 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_width (numerical): 4.25 mm (3-5 mm) [sources: Butler_2004; Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_shape (categorical): globoid_flattened (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
stem morphology
  • wood_density (numerical): 0.65 mg/mm3 (0.59-0.79 mg/mm3) [sources: Dwyer_2018; McCarthy_2017; RadfordSmith_2024]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Curran_200910204T. J. Curran, P. J. Clarke, and N. W. M. Warwick. “Water relations of woody plants on contrasting soils during drought: does edaphic compensation account for dry rainforest distribution?”. Australian Journal of Botany 57.8 (2009), pp. 629-639. doi: 10.1071/bt09128.
RadfordSmith_20241538J. Radford-Smith, H. R. Lai, E. C. Weeren, and J. M. Dwyer. “A Functional Basis for the Assembly of Australian Subtropical Rainforest Tree Communities”. Ecology Letters 27.11 (2024). ISSN: 1461-0248. doi: 10.1111/ele.70014.
ABRS_20231723Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
White_20202020M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
Cooper_20131114W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Kooyman_2011913R. 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.
NTH_20231012D. 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/.
NHNSW_2014_2911Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Dwyer_201828J. M. Dwyer and R. Mason. “Plant community responses to thinning in densely regenerating Acacia harpophylla forest”. Restoration Ecology 26.1 (2018), pp. 97-105. doi: 10.1111/rec.12536.
Stewart_199568G. Stewart, M. Turnbull, S. Schmidt, and P. Erskine. “13C natural abundance in plant communities along a rainfall gradient: a biological integrator of water availability”. Functional Plant Biology 22.1 (1995), pp. 51-55. doi: 10.1071/pp9950051.
Clarke_201536P. 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.
Butler_200455D. W. Butler, R. J. Green, D. Lamb, W. J. F. Mcdonald, and P. I. Forster. “Biogeography of seed-dispersal syndromes, life-forms and seed sizes among woody rain-forest plants in Australia's subtropics”. Journal of Biogeography 34.10 (2007), pp. 1736-1750. ISSN: 1365-2699. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01734.x.
McCarthy_201715J. K. McCarthy, J. M. Dwyer, and K. Mokany. “A regional-scale assessment of using metabolic scaling theory to predict ecosystem properties”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286.1915 (2019), p. 20192221. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2221.
Wright_200055I. 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.
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.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.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/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
BRAIN_200711Brisbane Rainforest Action & Information Network. Trait measurements for Australian rainforest species. 2016. url: http://www.brisrain.org.au/.
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.
NHNSW_201611National Herbarium of NSW. Trait measurements for NSW rainforest species from PLantNET. 2016. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.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.