Cordia dichotoma

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Family Boraginaceae

Taxonomy: Cordia dichotoma G.Forst.

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)

Cordia brownii DC. (taxonomic synonym)
Cordia ixiocarpa F.Muell. (taxonomic synonym)
Cordia myxa var. ixiocarpa (F.Muell.) Domin (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, Qld

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Butler_2004 (5), Clarke_2015 (2), Cooper_2013 (11), Crowley_2007 (2), Gross_2005 (4), Ilic_2000 (1), Kanowski_2000 (22), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kooyman_2011 (13), Metcalfe_2009 (18), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (1), Zanne_2009 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 60 traits from 100 records in 20 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): resprouts (5) [sources: Clarke_2015; Crowley_2007; Metcalfe_2009; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): dioecious (2) [sources: Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 16.5 mm (10-23 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
fruit_width (numerical): 10 mm (5-15 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
fruit_type (categorical): drupe (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (4) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Metcalfe_2009; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 8535 mm2 (3840-13230 mm2) [sources: Kanowski_2000; Metcalfe_2009]
leaf_length (numerical): 122.5 mm (35-210 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_width (numerical): 65 mm (25-105 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 154.56 g/m2 (154.56-154.56 g/m2) [sources: Kanowski_2000]
leaf_lobation (categorical): lobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (2); tree (6) [sources: Butler_2004; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; Metcalfe_2009; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_form (categorical): phanerophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
root_structure (categorical): mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): fly (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (2) [sources: Butler_2004; Metcalfe_2009]
dispersers (categorical): vertebrates (1) [sources: Butler_2004]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnyynn (1); yyynnnnnnnyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; WAH_1998]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1); transient (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; RussellSmith_2012]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): non_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2); epicormic_buds (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 34.24 mg/g (34.24-34.24 mg/g) [sources: Kanowski_2000]
leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 4.36 mg/g (4.36-4.36 mg/g) [sources: Kanowski_2000]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 98.5 mg (97-100 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1; Metcalfe_2009]
seed_length (numerical): 11 mm (7-15 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
seed_width (numerical): 6.75 mm (3-10 mm) [sources: Butler_2004; Kooyman_2011]

stem morphology

wood_density (numerical): 0.43 mg/mm3 (0.39-0.46 mg/mm3) [sources: Ilic_2000; Kooyman_2011; Metcalfe_2009; Zanne_2009]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 13.25 m (3-20 m) [sources: Cooper_2013; WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Kanowski_2000	22	22	J. Kanowski. “Ecological determinants of the distribution and abundance of the folivorous marsupials endemic to the rainforests of the Atherton uplands, north Queensland.”. PhD. James Cook University, Townsville, 1999.
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.
Kooyman_2011	9	13	R. Kooyman, M. Rossetto, W. Cornwell, and M. Westoby. “Phylogenetic tests of community assembly across regional to continental scales in tropical and subtropical rain forests”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20 (2011), pp. 707-716. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00641.x.
Cooper_2013	9	11	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Butler_2004	5	5	D. W. Butler, R. J. Green, D. Lamb, W. J. F. Mcdonald, and P. I. Forster. “Biogeography of seed-dispersal syndromes, life-forms and seed sizes among woody rain-forest plants in Australia's subtropics”. Journal of Biogeography 34.10 (2007), pp. 1736-1750. ISSN: 1365-2699. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01734.x.
Gross_2005	4	4	C. L. Gross. “A comparison of the sexual systems in the trees from the Australian tropics with other tropical biomes-more monoecy but why?”. American Journal of Botany 92.6 (2005), pp. 907-919. doi: 10.3732/ajb.92.6.907.
RussellSmith_2012	4	4	J. Russell-Smith, M. R. Gardener, C. Brock, K. Brennan, C. P. Yates, and B. Grace. “Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales - an Australian example”. Journal of Biogeography 39 (2012), pp. 1657-1668. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02714.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	3	3	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Clarke_2015	2	2	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.
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).
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.
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.
Ilic_2000	1	1	J. Ilic, D. Boland, M. McDonald, D. G, and P. Blakemore. Woody density phase 1 - State of knowledge. National Carbon Accounting System. Technical Report 18. Tech. rep. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, Australia, 2000.
Kew_2019_1	1	1	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
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.
Wright_2000	1	1	I. J. Wright, H. T. Clifford, R. Kidson, M. L. Reed, B. L. Rice, and M. Westoby. “A survey of seed and seedling characters in 1744 Australian dicotyledon species: Cross-species trait correlations and correlated trait-shifts within evolutionary lineages”. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 69 (2000), pp. 521-547. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2000.tb01222.x.
Zanne_2009	1	1	A. E. Zanne, G. Lopez-Gonzalez, D. A. Coomes, J. Ilic, S. Jansen, S. L. Lewis, R. B. Miller, N. G. Swenson, M. C. Wiemann, and J. Chave. “Data from: Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum”. Dryad Digital Repository (2009). doi: 10.5061/dryad.234.