Comesperma virgatum

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Family Polygalaceae

Taxonomy: Comesperma virgatum Labill.

Synonyms: 22 (APC 2026-07-30)

Bredemeyera virgata (Labill.) Steenis (nomenclatural synonym)
Comesperma aemula Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma aemulum Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma contracta Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma contractum Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma corniculata Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma corniculatum Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma laxiusculum Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma longebracteatum Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma longibracteata Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma rosea Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma roseum Steud. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma simplex Endl. (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma virgata Labill. (orthographic variant)
Comesperma virgatum Labill. var. virgatum (nomenclatural synonym)
Comesperma virgatum var. contracta Steetz (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma virgatum var. contractum (Steud.) Steetz (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma virgatum var. corniculatum Domin (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma virgatum var. longebracteata Steetz (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma virgatum var. longebracteatum (Steud.) Steetz (taxonomic synonym)
Comesperma virgatum var. simplex (Endl.) Steetz (taxonomic synonym)
Comosperma laxiuscula Steud. (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Clarke_2015 (3), Collette_2021 (1), Pekin_2011 (4), Schmidt_1993 (2), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Standish_2019 (9), Sweedman_2006 (2), Tsakalos_2020 (18), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wheeler_2002 (10). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 35 traits from 63 records in 14 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 (2); resprouts (2) [sources: Clarke_2015; Pekin_2011; Standish_2019; Tsakalos_2020]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]

flower morphology

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

fruit morphology

fruit_type (categorical): capsule (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Sjostrom_2006; Tsakalos_2020]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 10.5 mm (4-17 mm) [sources: Wheeler_2002]
leaf_width (numerical): 1.5 mm (1-2 mm) [sources: Wheeler_2002]
leaf_shape (categorical): linear (1) [sources: Wheeler_2002]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Wheeler_2002]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: Tsakalos_2020; Wheeler_2002]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_glaucousness (categorical): not_glaucous (2) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_hairs_adult_leaves (categorical): glabrous (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): cladode (1); leaf (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (5) [sources: Schmidt_1993; Standish_2019; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; Wheeler_2002]
life_history (categorical): perennial (6) [sources: Pekin_2011; Standish_2019; Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023; Wheeler_2002]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2); woody_base (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (2) [sources: Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (2) [sources: Pekin_2011; Standish_2019]
root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (4) [sources: Pekin_2011; Schmidt_1993; Standish_2019; Tsakalos_2020]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): ynnnnnnyyyyy (1); yyynnnnnyyyy (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020; WAH_1998]
seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Standish_2019]
seed_dormancy_class (categorical): non_dormant (1) [sources: Collette_2021]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 16.7 mg/g (16.7-16.7 mg/g) [sources: Standish_2019]
leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 0.6 mg/g (0.6-0.6 mg/g) [sources: Standish_2019]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 1.49 mg (1.49-1.49 mg) [sources: Standish_2019]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 1.23 m (0.3-1.6 m) [sources: WAH_2023_2; Wheeler_2002]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Tsakalos_2020	17	18	J. L. Tsakalos, M. Renton, F. Riviera, E. J. Veneklaas, M. P. Dobrowolski, and L. Mucina. “Trait-based formal definition of plant functional types and functional communities in the multi-species and multi-traits context”. Ecological Complexity 40 (2019), p. 100787. doi: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2019.100787.
Wheeler_2002	8	10	J. R. Wheeler, N. G. Marchant, and M. Lewington. Flora of the south west: Bunbury, Augusta, Denmark. Australian Biological Resources Study ; University of Western Australia Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780642568168.
Standish_2019	9	9	R. Standish. “Unpublished data: Jarrah forest, Murdoch University”. 2019.
Pekin_2011	4	4	B. K. Pekin, R. S. Wittkuhn, M. M. Boer, C. Macfarlane, and P. F. Grierson. “Plant functional traits along environmental gradients in seasonally dry and fire-prone ecosystem”. Journal of Vegetation Science 22 (2011), pp. 1009-1020. doi: 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2011.01323.x.
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.
WAH_2022_2	4	4	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Clarke_2015	3	3	P. 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.
Schmidt_1993	2	2	S. Schmidt. “Unpublished data: Compilation of mycorrhizal status data, University of Queensland”. 1993.
Sweedman_2006	2	2	L. Sweedman and D. Merritt. Australian Seeds: A Guide to Their Collection, Identification, and Biology. CSIRO Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780643094079.
WAH_2023_2	1	2	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Collette_2021	1	1	J. 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.
WAH_1998	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.