Cleome aculeata

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Family Cleomaceae

Taxonomy: Cleome aculeata L.

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

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (22), ATRP_2020 (3), Metcalfe_2009 (18), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (22), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 41 traits from 80 records in 9 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

resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 45 mm (30-60 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 3 mm (3-3 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 3 mm (3-3 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (2); silique (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 378 mm2 (378-378 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
leaf_length (numerical): 27.5 mm (20-35 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 14.5 mm (10-20 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
petiole_length (numerical): 4.5 cm (4.5-4.5 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): oblong (2); obovate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): acute (1); cuneate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (2); simple (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (5) [sources: ABRS_2022; ATRP_2020; Metcalfe_2009; NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
life_form (categorical): therophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
life_history (categorical): annual (5) [sources: ABRS_2022; ATRP_2020; Metcalfe_2009; NTH_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; ATRP_2020; NTH_2022]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
root_structure (categorical): mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): butterfly (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): short_persistent (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): non_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.86 mg (0.86-0.86 mg) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
seed_length (numerical): 2.25 mm (2-2.5 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
seed_width (numerical): 2.2 mm (2-2.4 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
seed_shape (categorical): comma-shaped (1); orbicular (1); reniform (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.55 m (0.5-0.6 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): sharp_pointed_defence (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
ABRS_2023	17	22	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NTH_2023	17	22	D. 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/.
Metcalfe_2009	18	18	E. 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.
ABRS_2022	4	4	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NTH_2022	4	4	D. 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/.
Sjostrom_2006	4	4	A. 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.
ATRP_2020	3	3	F. 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.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.