AusTraits

Comesperma retusum

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Polygalaceae

Taxonomy: Comesperma retusum Labill.

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Bredemeyera retusa (Labill.) Anon. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Bredemeyera retusum Anon. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Comesperma compactum Sieber ex Steud. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Comesperma retusa Labill. (orthographic variant)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW, ACT, Vic, Tas

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ANBG_2019 (1), Cheal_2017 (6), Clarke_2009 (2), Clarke_2015 (1), Collette_2021 (1), Jordan_2001 (6), Kew_2019_1 (2), McGlone_2015 (6), Mokany_2015 (1), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (13), NSWFRD_2014 (11), RBGV_2022 (4), RBGV_2023 (15), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (20). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 52 traits from 103 records in 19 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): blue_purple (1); pink (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (2); monoecious (1) [sources: Jordan_2001; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 10.25 mm (9-12 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): capsule (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Jordan_2001; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 35.34 mm2 (35.34-35.34 mm2) [sources: Mokany_2015]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 11.67 mm (5-15 mm) [sources: McGlone_2015; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 3.17 mm (2-4 mm) [sources: McGlone_2015; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); oblong (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: McGlone_2015; NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): concave (1); flat (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (6); subshrub (1) [sources: Clarke_2009; McGlone_2015; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: Jordan_2001; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1); prostrate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2022]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): anemochory (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • dispersers (categorical): wind (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnny (1); yyynnnnnyyyy (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014; White_2020]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): long_persistent (1); persistent (2) [sources: Cheal_2017; NSWFRD_2014; White_2020]
  • seed_dormancy_class (categorical): non_dormant (1) [sources: Collette_2021]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_buds (1); basal_stem_buds (1) [sources: Clarke_2009; NSWFRD_2014]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 1.04 mg (1.03-1.05 mg) [sources: ANBG_2019; Kew_2019_1]
  • seed_length (numerical): 2.66 mm (2.5-2.83 mm) [sources: Jordan_2001; RBGV_2023]
  • seed_width (numerical): 1.1 mm (1.1-1.1 mm) [sources: Jordan_2001]
  • seed_shape (categorical): ellipsoid (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
White_20202020M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
RBGV_20231215VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
NHNSW_20231013N. 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/.
NSWFRD_2014911B. Kenny, C. Orscheg, E. Tasker, M. A. Gill, and R. Bradstock. NSW Flora Fire Response Database, v2.1. database. NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, 2014.
Cheal_201766D. Cheal. Growth stages and tolerable fire intervals for Victoria's native vegetation data sets. Fire and adaptive management, report no. 84. Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment Melbourne, 2010.
Jordan_200166G. J. Jordan. “An investigation of long-distance dispersal based on species native to both Tasmania and New Zealand”. Australian Journal of Botany 49.3 (2001), pp. 333-340. doi: 10.1071/bt00024.
McGlone_201566M. S. McGlone, S. J. Richardson, G. J. Jordan, and G. L. Perry. “Is there a `suboptimal' woody species height? A response to Scheffer et al.”. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 30.1 (2015), pp. 4-5. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.09.007.
NHNSW_2014_244Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
RBGV_202244VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.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.
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/.
Clarke_200922P. J. Clarke, K. J. E. Knox, M. L. Campbell, and L. M. Copeland. “Post-fire recovery of woody plants in the New England Tableland Bioregion”. Cunninghamia 11 (2009), pp. 221-239. doi: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/4907.
Kew_2019_112Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ANBG_201911Australian National Botanic Gardens. The National Seed Bank. 2018. url: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/living/seedbank/.
Clarke_201511P. J. Clarke, M. J. Lawes, B. P. Murphy, J. Russell-Smith, C. E. Nano, R. Bradstock, N. J. Enright, J. B. Fontaine, C. R. Gosper, I. Radford, J. J. Midgley, and R. M. Gunton. “A synthesis of postfire recovery traits of woody plants in Australian ecosystems”. Science of The Total Environment 534 (2015), pp. 31-42. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.002.
Collette_202111J. C. Collette and M. K. J. Ooi. “Distribution of seed dormancy classes across a fire-prone continent: effects of rainfall seasonality and temperature”. Annals of Botany 127.5 (2021), pp. 613-620. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcaa203.
Mokany_201511K. Mokany, J. J. Thomson, A. J. J. Lynch, G. J. Jordan, and S. Ferrier. “Linking changes in community composition and function under climate change”. Ecological Applications 25.8 (2015), pp. 2132-2141. doi: 10.1890/14-2384.1.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.