Commelina ensifolia

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Commelinaceae

Taxonomy: Commelina ensifolia R.Br.

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)

Commelina ensifolia R.Br. var. ensifolia (nomenclatural synonym)
Commelina ensifolia var. pubescens C.B.Clarke (taxonomic synonym)
Commelyna ensifolia F.Muell. (orthographic variant)

Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Commelina undulata R.Br. (misapplied)

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ATRP_2020 (1), Cooper_2013 (11), Crowley_2007 (2), Draper_2023 (3), Kew_2019_1 (1), Lord_1997 (3), Metcalfe_2009 (18), Munroe_2019 (1), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (11), NTH_2022 (2), Nano_2011 (2), Rice_1991 (1), SAH_2022 (2), SAH_2023 (16), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (1), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (20). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 50 traits from 114 records in 23 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); resprouts (3) [sources: Crowley_2007; Metcalfe_2009; Nano_2011; White_2020]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 6 mm (6-6 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; SAH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (4) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Metcalfe_2009; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 1440 mm2 (1440-1440 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
leaf_length (numerical): 62.5 mm (15-120 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 7.75 mm (4-12 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): lanceolate (1); linear (1); ovate (1) [sources: SAH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): sheathing (1) [sources: SAH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_margin_posture (categorical): undulate (1) [sources: SAH_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (1) [sources: SAH_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (3) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; Munroe_2019; White_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (10) [sources: Cooper_2013; Lord_1997; Metcalfe_2009; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; Rice_1991; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
life_form (categorical): chamaephyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
life_history (categorical): annual (2); perennial (4) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): prostrate (4) [sources: ATRP_2020; Cooper_2013; WAH_2022_2; White_2020]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; White_2020]
root_structure (categorical): mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): bee (1); insect (2) [sources: Draper_2023; Metcalfe_2009; White_2020]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (2); zoochory (2) [sources: Draper_2023; Lord_1997; Metcalfe_2009; White_2020]
dispersers (categorical): abiotic (1); animals (1); invertebrates (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): yyyyynnnyyyy (2); yyyyyynnnyyy (1); yyyyyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2; WAH_1998; White_2020]
seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): short_persistent (1); transient (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): belowground_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 10.74 mg (2.2-15.51 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1; Lord_1997; Metcalfe_2009]
seed_length (numerical): 3.5 mm (3-4 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.35 m (0.3-0.5 m) [sources: SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
White_2020	20	20	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
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.
SAH_2023	11	16	S. 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/.
Cooper_2013	9	11	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
NHNSW_2023	8	11	N. 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/.
NHNSW_2014_2	4	4	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.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.
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/.
Draper_2023	3	3	J. T. Draper, S. Delean, J. G. Conran, P. Weinstein, and B. S. Simpson. “Life-history characteristics and climate correlates of dioecious plant species in central southern Australia”. Australian Journal of Botany unknown.unknown (2023), p. unknown. doi: 10.1071/BT22110.
Lord_1997	3	3	J. 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_2022	3	3	N. 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/.
Crowley_2007	2	2	G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
NTH_2022	2	2	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/.
Nano_2011	2	2	C. 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.
SAH_2022	2	2	S. 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/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ATRP_2020	1	1	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.
Kew_2019_1	1	1	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Munroe_2019	1	1	S. E. M. Munroe, F. A. McInerney, J. Andrae, N. Welti, G. R. Guerin, E. Leitch, T. Hall, S. Szarvas, R. Atkins, S. Caddy-Retalic, and B. Sparrow. “The Photosynthetic Pathways of Plant Species Surveyed in Australia's National Terrestrial Monitoring Network”. Scientific Data 8 (2021), p. 97. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-00877-z.
Rice_1991	1	1	B. Rice. “Unpublished data: Growth form of Kakadu plant species, Macquarie University”. 1991.
WAH_1998	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
WAH_2023_2	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://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.