AusTraits

Castanospermum australe

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Castanospermum australe A.Cunn. ex Mudie

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Castamospermum australe Macarthur & C.Moore (orthographic variant)
  • Castanospermum australe A.Cunn. ex Mudie var. australe (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Castanospermum australe var. brevivexillum F.M.Bailey (taxonomic synonym)
  • Castanospermum brevivexillum (F.M.Bailey) Domin (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW, NI (doubtfully naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Apgaua_2015 (24), Apgaua_2017 (12), Bloomfield_2018 (132), Buckton_2019 (111), Butler_2004 (5), Cheesman_2020 (29), Cooper_2013 (14), Falster_2005_1 (8), Gray_2019 (44), Gross_2005 (4), Ilic_2000 (2), Kanowski_2000 (66), Kew_2019_1 (9), Kew_2019_4 (1), Kew_2019_5 (2), Kooyman_2011 (14), Lemmens_1994 (1), Lusk_2010 (18), Lusk_2014 (3), Metcalfe_2009 (16), NHNSW_2014_2 (2), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (24), RadfordSmith_2024 (42), Richards_2008 (13), Rumman_2018 (4), Sams_2017 (3), Sendall_2016 (76), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Weerasinghe_2014 (87), Wells_2012 (98), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wills_2018 (60), Wright_2000 (10), Zieminska_2015 (36), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (21). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 165 traits from 1,001 records in 37 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): yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (2) [sources: Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 160 mm (90-250 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 50 mm (40-60 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 50 mm (40-60 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): capsule (1); legume (6) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; NHNSW_2023; RadfordSmith_2024; Sams_2017; Sjostrom_2006; Wright_2000]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (6) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Metcalfe_2009; Sjostrom_2006; Wells_2012; Wright_2000]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (4) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006; Wright_2000]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 7734.2 mm2 (2440-38613.13 mm2) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Buckton_2019; Cheesman_2020; Falster_2005_1; Kanowski_2000; Metcalfe_2009; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • leaflet_area (numerical): 3638.82 mm2 (818.97-5297.28 mm2) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024; Wells_2012]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 174.8 mm (50-600 mm) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 38.58 mm (20-50 mm) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 354.27 mg (145.73-586.1 mg) [sources: Buckton_2019; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 4.5 cm (3-6 cm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 89.2 g/m2 (22.09-298.51 g/m2) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Bloomfield_2018; Buckton_2019; Cheesman_2020; Falster_2005_1; Gray_2019; Kanowski_2000; Lusk_2010; Lusk_2014; RadfordSmith_2024; Richards_2008; Sams_2017; Sendall_2016; Weerasinghe_2014; Wells_2012; Wills_2018; Zieminska_2015]
  • leaf_area_ratio (numerical): 3.73 mm2/mg (3.73-3.73 mm2/mg) [sources: Lusk_2014]
  • leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.39 g/g (0.24-0.46 g/g) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Bloomfield_2018; Buckton_2019; Lusk_2010; RadfordSmith_2024; Weerasinghe_2014; Wells_2012]
  • leaf_type (categorical): broadleaf (2) [sources: Richards_2008; Rumman_2018]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); oblong (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (3) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023; Richards_2008]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; Richards_2008]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): tree (12) [sources: Apgaua_2017; Buckton_2019; Butler_2004; Cheesman_2020; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; Metcalfe_2009; NHNSW_2022; Richards_2008; Rumman_2018; Wells_2012; Wenk_2022]
  • life_form (categorical): phanerophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (3) [sources: Kooyman_2011; RadfordSmith_2024; Richards_2008]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): bee (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; Wells_2012]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): autochory (1); barochory (1); endozoochory (1); hydrochory (2) [sources: Butler_2004; Kew_2019_5; Metcalfe_2009; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • dispersers (categorical): bats (1); birds (1); cassowaries (1); flying_vertebrates (1); mammals (1); passive (1) [sources: Butler_2004; Sams_2017; Wells_2012]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnyyyn (1); ynnnnnyyyyyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): transient (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
  • clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): non_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
nutrient and stable isotope
  • leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 28.18 mg/g (17.25-33.65 mg/g) [sources: Bloomfield_2018; Buckton_2019; Cheesman_2020; Falster_2005_1; Gray_2019; Kanowski_2000; Richards_2008; Sendall_2016; Weerasinghe_2014; Wills_2018]
  • leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 1.69 mg/g (0.82-3.51 mg/g) [sources: Bloomfield_2018; Gray_2019; Kanowski_2000; Richards_2008; Sendall_2016; Weerasinghe_2014; Wills_2018]
  • leaf_delta13C (numerical): -29.52 {delta}[ppth] (-35.2--27.37 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Apgaua_2017; Buckton_2019; Cheesman_2020; Richards_2008; Rumman_2018]
physiology
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 19216.98 mg (7722.17-46000 mg) [sources: Falster_2005_1; Kew_2019_1]
  • seed_length (numerical): 40 mm (30-50 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_width (numerical): 36.67 mm (30-50 mm) [sources: Butler_2004; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • seed_shape (categorical): globoid (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
stem morphology
  • wood_density (numerical): 0.55 mg/mm3 (0.25-0.65 mg/mm3) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Apgaua_2017; Buckton_2019; Falster_2005_1; Ilic_2000; Kooyman_2011; Lemmens_1994; Metcalfe_2009; RadfordSmith_2024; Wells_2012; Zieminska_2015]
  • huber_value (numerical): 0 mm2{sapwood}/mm2{leaf} (0-0 mm2{sapwood}/mm2{leaf}) [sources: Falster_2005_1; Zieminska_2015]
  • stem_vessel_density (numerical): 14.96 {count}/mm2 (2.71-50.16 {count}/mm2) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Apgaua_2017; Zieminska_2015]
  • stem_vessel_diameter (numerical): 96.24 um (44.71-120.57 um) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Apgaua_2017; Zieminska_2015]
  • stem_vessel_lumen_fraction (numerical): 0.06 mm2/mm2 (0.03-0.08 mm2/mm2) [sources: Apgaua_2015; Apgaua_2017; Zieminska_2015]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Bloomfield_201824132K. J. Bloomfield, L. A. Cernusak, D. Eamus, D. S. Ellsworth, I. C. Prentice, I. J. Wright, M. M. Boer, M. G. Bradford, P. Cale, J. Cleverly, J. J. G. Egerton, B. J. Evans, L. S. Hayes, M. F. Hutchinson, M. J. Liddell, C. Macfarlane, W. S. Meyer, S. M. Prober, H. F. Togashi, T. Wardlaw, L. Zhu, and O. K. Atkin. “A continental-scale assessment of variability in leaf traits: Within species, across sites and between seasons”. Functional Ecology 32.6 (2018), pp. 1492-1506. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13097.
Buckton_201926111G. Buckton, A. W. Cheesman, N. C. Munksgaard, C. M. Wurster, M. J. Liddell, and L. A. Cernusak. “Functional traits of lianas in an Australian lowland rainforest align with post-disturbance rather than dry season advantage”. Austral Ecology 44.6 (2019), pp. 983-994. doi: 10.1111/aec.12764.
Wells_20122298J. A. Wells. “Phylogeny and inter-relations of ecological traits and seed dispersal in rainforest plants: Exploring aspects of functional diversity in primary and secondary rainforests in Australia's Wet Tropics.”. PhD. University of Queensland, 2012.
Weerasinghe_20141887L. K. Weerasinghe, D. Creek, K. Y. Crous, S. Xiang, M. J. Liddell, M. H. Turnbull, and O. K. Atkin. “Canopy position affects the relationships between leaf respiration and associated traits in a tropical rainforest in Far North Queensland”. Tree Physiology 34.6 (2014), pp. 564-584. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpu016.
Sendall_2016576K. M. Sendall, C. H. Lusk, and P. B. Reich. “Trade-offs in juvenile growth potential vs. shade tolerance among subtropical rain forest trees on soils of contrasting fertility”. Functional Ecology 30.6 (2015), pp. 845-855. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.12573.
Kanowski_20002266J. Kanowski. “Ecological determinants of the distribution and abundance of the folivorous marsupials endemic to the rainforests of the Atherton uplands, north Queensland.”. PhD. James Cook University, Townsville, 1999.
Wills_20181560J. Wills, J. Herbohn, J. Hu, S. Sohel, J. Baynes, and J. Firn. “Tree leaf trade-offs are stronger for sub-canopy trees: leaf traits reveal little about growth rates in canopy trees”. Ecological Applications 28.4 (2018), pp. 1116-1125. doi: 10.1002/eap.1715.
Gray_20191244E. F. Gray, I. J. Wright, D. S. Falster, A. S. D. Eller, C. E. R. Lehmann, M. G. Bradford, and L. A. Cernusak. “Leaf:wood allometry and functional traits together explain substantial growth rate variation in rainforest trees”. AoB PLANTS 11.3 (2019), pp. 1-11. doi: 10.1093/aobpla/plz024.
RadfordSmith_20241542J. 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.
Zieminska_20151236K. Ziemińska, M. Westoby, and I. J. Wright. “Broad anatomical variation within a narrow wood density range - A study of twig wood across 69 Australian Angiosperms”. PLOS ONE 10.4 (2015), p. e0124892. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124892.
Cheesman_20201229A. W. Cheesman, H. Duff, K. Hill, L. A. Cernusak, and F. A. McInerney. “Isotopic and morphologic proxies for reconstructing light environment and leaf function of fossil leaves: A modern calibration in the Daintree Rainforest, Australia”. American Journal of Botany 107 (2020), pp. 1165-1176. doi: 10.1002/ajb2.1523.
Apgaua_20151224D. M. G. Apgaua, F. Y. Ishida, D. Y. P. Tng, M. J. Laidlaw, R. M. Santos, R. Rumman, D. Eamus, J. A. M. Holtum, and S. G. W. Laurance. “Functional traits and water transport strategies in lowland tropical rainforest trees”. PLoS One 10.6 (2015), p. e0130799. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130799.
NHNSW_20231624N. 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/.
eFLOWER_Dun_20221821L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
Lusk_2010918C. H. Lusk, Y. Onoda, R. Kooyman, and A. Gutiurrez-Giron. “Reconciling species-level vs plastic responses of evergreen leaf structure to light gradients: shade leaves punch above their weight”. New Phytologist 186.2 (2010), pp. 429-438. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03202.x.
Metcalfe_20091616E. Laliberte, J. A. Wells, F. DeClerck, D. J. Metcalfe, C. P. Catterall, C. Queiroz, I. Aubin, S. P. Bonser, Y. Ding, J. M. Fraterrigo, S. McNamara, J. W. Morgan, D. S. Merlos, P. A. Vesk, and M. M. Mayfield. “Land-use intensification reduces functional redundancy and response diversity in plant communities”. Ecology Letters 13.1 (2010), pp. 76-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01403.x.
Cooper_20131114W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Kooyman_20111014R. 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.
Richards_20081313A. Richards and I. J. Wright. “Unpublished data: Transcription of Australian plant functional trait data from Ian Wright's collection of papers, Macquarie University”. 2009.
Apgaua_20171112D. M. G. Apgaua, D. Y. P. Tng, L. A. Cernusak, A. W. Cheesman, R. M. Santos, W. J. Edwards, and S. G. W. Laurance. “Plant functional groups within a tropical forest exhibit different wood functional anatomy”. Functional Ecology 31.3 (2017), pp. 582-591. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.12787.
Wright_20001010I. 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.
Kew_2019_119Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Falster_2005_178D. S. Falster and M. Westoby. “Alternative height strategies among 45 dicot rain forest species from tropical Queensland, Australia”. Journal of Ecology 93 (2005), pp. 521-535. doi: 10.1111/j.0022-0477.2005.00992.x.
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.
Gross_200544C. L. Gross. “A comparison of the sexual systems in the trees from the Australian tropics with other tropical biomes-more monoecy but why?”. American Journal of Botany 92.6 (2005), pp. 907-919. doi: 10.3732/ajb.92.6.907.
Rumman_201844R. Rumman, O. K. Atkin, K. J. Bloomfield, and D. Eamus. “Variation in bulk-leaf 13C discrimination, leaf traits and wateruse efficiency-trait relationships along a continental-scale climate gradient in Australia”. Global Change Biology 24 (2018), pp. 1186-1200. doi: 10.1111/gcb.13911.
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.
Lusk_201433C. H. Lusk, K. M. Sendall, and P. J. Clarke. “Seedling growth rates and light requirements of subtropical rainforest trees associated with basaltic and rhyolitic soils”. Australian Journal of Botany 62.1 (2014), pp. 48-55. doi: 10.1071/bt13262.
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/.
Sams_201733M. A. Sams, H. R. Lai, S. P. Bonser, P. A. Vesk, R. M. Kooyman, D. J. Metcalfe, J. W. Morgan, and M. M. Mayfield. “Landscape context explains changes in the functional diversity of regenerating forests better than climate or species richness”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26.10 (2017), pp. 1165-1176. doi: 10.1111/geb.12627.
Ilic_200012J. Ilic, D. Boland, M. McDonald, D. G, and P. Blakemore. Woody density phase 1 - State of knowledge. National Carbon Accounting System. Technical Report 18. Tech. rep. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, Australia, 2000.
Kew_2019_512Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed dispersal data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
NHNSW_2014_222Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Kew_2019_411Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Oil content data from Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Lemmens_199411R. Lemmens and I. Soerjanegara. Prosea, Volume 5/1: Timber Trees - Major Commercial Timbers. Pudoc/Prosea, 1993. ISBN: 9789022010334.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.