AusTraits

Cassia fistula

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Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Cassia fistula L.

Synonyms: 8 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Bactrilobium fistula (L.) Willd. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Cassia excelsa Kunth (taxonomic synonym)
  • Cassia fistuloides Collad. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Cassia rhombifolia Roxb. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Cathartocarpus excelsus (Kunth) G.Don (taxonomic synonym)
  • Cathartocarpus fistula (L.) Pers. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Cathartocarpus fistuloides (Collad.) G.Don (taxonomic synonym)
  • Cathartocarpus rhombifolius (Roxb.) G.Don (taxonomic synonym)

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_1981 (4), ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (25), NTH_2022 (3), NTH_2023 (14), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 26 traits from 56 records in 8 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 450 mm (300-600 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 20 mm (15-25 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 20 mm (15-25 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): legume (1); legume_indehiscent (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1); indehiscent (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): brown (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf morphology
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): tree (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): deciduous (1) [sources: ABRS_1981]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 8 mm (8-8 mm) [sources: ABRS_1981]
  • seed_width (numerical): 12 mm (8-20 mm) [sources: ABRS_1981; ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
  • seed_shape (categorical): discoid (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 15 m (10-20 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
ABRS_20231725Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NTH_20231214D. 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/.
ABRS_198134B. A. Barlow, H. T. Clifford, A. S. George, and A. K. A. McCusker. Flora of Australia. 1981. url: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/flora/main/.
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.
ABRS_202233Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.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.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.