AusTraits

Commelina cyanea

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Commelinaceae

Taxonomy: Commelina cyanea R.Br.

Synonyms: 5 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Commelina cyanea R.Br. f. cyanea (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Commelina cyanea R.Br. var. cyanea (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Commelina cyanea R.Br. var. cynea (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Commelina cyanea f. albiflora Domin (doubtful taxonomic synonym)
  • Commelina cyanea var. verreauxii C.B.Clarke (taxonomic synonym)
Misapplied names: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Commelina communis L. (misapplied)
  • Commelina diffusa Burm.f. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): NSW, LHI, NI, Vic

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Benwell_2024 (4), Hughes_1992 (3), Kubiak_2009 (3), Leishman_2007 (2), Lord_1997 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (6), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (13), NSWFRD_2014 (7), Pickup_2021 (12), RBGV_2022 (3), RBGV_2023 (10), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Soliveres_2012 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (20). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 46 traits from 98 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
  • resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (2); partial_resprouting (5); resprouts (2) [sources: Benwell_2024; Kubiak_2009; NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021; White_2020]
  • post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (5) [sources: Benwell_2024; Pickup_2021]
flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_type (categorical): capsule (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1); indehiscent (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 47.5 mm (20-70 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 10 mm (5-15 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): narrowly_ovate (2); ovate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): sheathing (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_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): herb (13) [sources: Hughes_1992; Leishman_2007; Lord_1997; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021; RBGV_2022; Soliveres_2012; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): climbing (1); prostrate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
  • 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): barochory (2); zoochory (1) [sources: Lord_1997; Soliveres_2012; White_2020]
  • dispersers (categorical): invertebrates (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnnn (1); yyyyynnnyyyy (3) [sources: Hughes_1992; NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014; White_2020]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Benwell_2024]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): transient (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1); vegetative (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_buds (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]
nutrient and stable isotope
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 17.5 mg (17.5-17.5 mg) [sources: Lord_1997]
  • seed_length (numerical): 2.5 mm (2-3 mm) [sources: NHNSW_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.
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/.
Pickup_2021312M. Pickup and T. McDonald. Bushfire impacts — A national model for assessing local landscape restoration priorities. Project Phoenix Report. Greening Australia, 2021. url: https://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1.02R2.pdf.
RBGV_2023810VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
NSWFRD_201467B. 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.
NHNSW_2014_266Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Benwell_202444A. Benwell. “Fire responses of flora in a sclerophyll-rainforest vegetation complex in the Nightcap Range, North Coast, New South Wales”. Australian Journal of Botany 72.1 (2024). Ed. by D. Williams. ISSN: 1444-9862. doi: 10.1071/bt23049.
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.
Hughes_199233L. Hughes and B. Rice. “Unpublished data: Traits data for 643 species, Macquarie University”. 1992.
Kubiak_200923P. J. Kubiak. “Fire responses of bushland plants after the January 1994 wildfires in northern Sydney”. Cunninghamia 11.1 (2009), pp. 131-165.
Lord_199733J. Lord, J. Egan, T. Clifford, E. Jurado, M. Leishman, D. Williams, and M. Westoby. “Larger seeds in tropical floras: Consistent patterns independent of growth form and dispersal mode”. Journal of Biogeography 24 (1997), pp. 205-211. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2699.1997.00126.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/.
RBGV_202233VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Leishman_200722M. R. Leishman, T. Haslehurst, A. Ares, and Z. Baruch. “Leaf trait relationships of native and invasive plants: community- and global-scale comparisons”. New Phytologist 176.3 (2007), pp. 635-643. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02189.x.
Soliveres_201222S. Soliveres, D. J. Eldridge, F. Hemmings, and F. T. Maestre. “Nurse plant effects on plant species richness in drylands: The role of grazing, rainfall and species specificity”. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 14 (2012), pp. 402-410. doi: 10.1016/j.ppees.2012.09.003.
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.