AusTraits

Carpobrotus edulis

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Aizoaceae

Taxonomy: Carpobrotus edulis (L.) N.E.Br.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Mesembryanthemum edule L. (nomenclatural synonym)
Misapplied names: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Carpobrotus acinaciformis (L.) L.Bolus (misapplied)
  • Mesembryanthemum acinaciforme L. (misapplied)

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: NHNSW_2014_2 (9), NHNSW_2024 (10), NSWFRD_2014 (2), RBGV_2022 (3), RBGV_2023 (9), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (13), Sjostrom_2006 (3), Standish_2019 (7), Tsakalos_2020 (16), WAH_2022_1 (4), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_1 (1), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 34 traits from 89 records in 16 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): pink (1); white_cream (1); yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 27.5 mm (25-30 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 27.5 mm (25-30 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2024]
  • fruit_type (categorical): capsule (2) [sources: RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Sjostrom_2006; Tsakalos_2020]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (4) [sources: RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006; WAH_2023_1]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): yellow (2) [sources: NHNSW_2024; SAH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 62.5 mm (40-100 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NHNSW_2024; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 12.5 mm (8-17 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NHNSW_2024; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_type (categorical): broadleaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2024]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2); toothed_dentate (1); toothed_serrate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Tsakalos_2020]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; Tsakalos_2020]
  • leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): involute (1) [sources: NHNSW_2024]
  • leaf_glaucousness (categorical): not_glaucous (2) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • leaf_hairs_adult_leaves (categorical): glabrous (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): opposite (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): cladode (1); leaf (4) [sources: NHNSW_2024; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Tsakalos_2020]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): cam (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (6); shrub (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; Standish_2019; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (7) [sources: RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; Standish_2019; Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (5); woody (1) [sources: RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • plant_succulence (categorical): succulent (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): open (1); prostrate (3); spreading (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Standish_2019]
  • root_structure (categorical): non_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Standish_2019]
  • parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnyyyyyynn (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Standish_2019]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.19 mg (0.19-0.19 mg) [sources: Standish_2019]
  • seed_length (numerical): 1.35 mm (1.1-1.6 mm) [sources: SAH_2023]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Tsakalos_20201516J. L. Tsakalos, M. Renton, F. Riviera, E. J. Veneklaas, M. P. Dobrowolski, and L. Mucina. “Trait-based formal definition of plant functional types and functional communities in the multi-species and multi-traits context”. Ecological Complexity 40 (2019), p. 100787. doi: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2019.100787.
SAH_2023913S. 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/.
NHNSW_2024710N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on December, 2023.. 2024. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2014_279Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://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/.
Standish_201977R. Standish. “Unpublished data: Jarrah forest, Murdoch University”. 2019.
WAH_2022_144Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
RBGV_202233VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_202233S. 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/.
Sjostrom_200633A. 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.
NSWFRD_201422B. Kenny, C. Orscheg, E. Tasker, M. A. Gill, and R. Bradstock. NSW Flora Fire Response Database, v2.1. database. NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, 2014.
WAH_2023_212Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
WAH_2023_111Western 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.