AusTraits

Citrullus colocynthis

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Cucurbitaceae

Taxonomy: Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Cucumis colocynthis L. (nomenclatural synonym)

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (24), Crowley_2007 (2), Fonseca_2000 (5), Jurado_1991 (7), NHNSW_2014_2 (2), NHNSW_2022 (5), NHNSW_2023 (19), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (16), Nano_2011 (2), RBGV_2022 (5), RBGV_2023 (25), SAH_2022 (4), SAH_2023 (22), WAH_2022_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 37 traits from 153 records in 18 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): green (1); yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): monoecious (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 80.83 mm (25-120 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 82.5 mm (25-120 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 85 mm (50-120 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): berry (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): green (4); yellow (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 1068.4 mm2 (336.8-1800 mm2) [sources: Fonseca_2000; Jurado_1991]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 55 mm (20-110 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 35.8 mm (7.3-80 mm) [sources: Fonseca_2000; ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 87 mg (87-87 mg) [sources: Fonseca_2000]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 3.25 cm (1-6 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 256.41 g/m2 (256.41-256.41 g/m2) [sources: Fonseca_2000]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): cordate (1); ovate (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): lobed (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (4) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): climber (2); climber_herbaceous (3); herb (6) [sources: ABRS_2022; Fonseca_2000; Jurado_1991; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (7) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (7) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • plant_climbing_mechanism (categorical): twining (1) [sources: Jurado_1991]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): prostrate (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • storage_organ (categorical): root_tuber (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): fleshy_underground_organ (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 25.36 mg (25.36-25.36 mg) [sources: Jurado_1991]
  • seed_length (numerical): 7.25 mm (5-9 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • seed_shape (categorical): ovoid (1); ovoid_flattened (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
RBGV_20231825VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
ABRS_20231724Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
SAH_20231522S. 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_20231319N. 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/.
NTH_20231216D. 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/.
Jurado_199177E. Jurado. “Diaspore weight, dispersal, growth form and perenniality of central Australian plants”. Journal of Ecology 79 (1991), pp. 811-828.
Fonseca_200055C. R. Fonseca, J. M. Overton, B. Collins, and M. Westoby. “Shifts in trait-combinations along rainfall and phosphorus gradients”. Journal of Ecology 88 (2000), pp. 964-977. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2745.2000.00506.x.
NHNSW_202255N. 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/.
RBGV_202255VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
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.
NTH_202244D. 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/.
SAH_202244S. 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/.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
NHNSW_2014_222Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.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.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.