AusTraits

Cenchrus echinatus

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Poaceae

Taxonomy: Cenchrus echinatus L.

Synonyms: none listed in the APC 2026-07-30

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), CoI (naturalised), NT (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ATRP_2020 (2), Crowley_2007 (2), Metcalfe_2020_2 (20), NHNSW_2014_2 (1), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (6), Nano_2011 (2), Schmidt_1993 (1), Simpson_2021 (1), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_2022_1 (4), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_1 (1), WAH_2023_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Yang_2023 (3). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 29 traits from 61 records in 17 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
  • sex_type (categorical): andromonoecious (1); hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 2.9 mm (2.2-3.6 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • fruit_type (categorical): caryopsis (5) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006; WAH_2023_1; WAH_2023_2]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1); indehiscent (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c4 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (3); herb (2); tussock (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_form (categorical): hemicryptophyte (1); therophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (6); perennial (1) [sources: ATRP_2020; NHNSW_2022; Simpson_2021; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): caespitose (1); decumbent (1); erect (1); open (1); rhizomatous (1); tufted (1) [sources: ATRP_2020; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2]
  • root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (1); non_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Schmidt_1993]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): wind (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): anemochory (1); epizoochory (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnny (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Yang_2023]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • storage_organ (categorical): rhizome (1) [sources: WAH_2023_2]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 0.62 m (0.1-0.9 m) [sources: NHNSW_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Metcalfe_2020_21720D. Metcalfe. “Unpublished data: Traits of Poaceae spp, CSIRO”. 2020.
NHNSW_202356N. 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/.
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.
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/.
WAH_2023_234Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
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/.
Yang_202333S. Yang. “Unpublished data: Fire response traits scored from national and state floras and the taxonomic literature, University of New South Wales”. 2023.
ATRP_202022F. A. Zich, B. P. Hyland, T. Whiffin, and R. A. Kerrigan. Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, Edition 8. 2020. url: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/intro/index.html.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_201122C. E. M. Nano and P. J. Clarke. “How do drought and fire influence the patterns of resprouting in Australian deserts?”. Plant Ecology 212 (2011), pp. 2095-2110. doi: 10.1007/s11258-011-9988-x.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
NHNSW_2014_211Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Schmidt_199311S. Schmidt. “Unpublished data: Compilation of mycorrhizal status data, University of Queensland”. 1993.
Simpson_202111K. J. Simpson, E. C. Jardine, S. Archibald, E. J. Forrestel, C. E. R. Lehmann, G. H. Thomas, and C. P. Osborne. “Resprouting grasses are associated with less frequent fire than seeders”. New Phytologist 230 (2021), pp. 832-844. doi: 10.1111/nph.17069.
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.