Cordyline cannifolia

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Family Asparagaceae

Taxonomy: Cordyline cannifolia R.Br.

Synonyms: 5 (APC 2026-07-30)

Cordyline cannaefolia R.Br. (orthographic variant)
Cordyline terminalis var. cannaefolia Baker (nomenclatural synonym)
Cordyline terminalis var. cannifolia (R.Br.) Baker (nomenclatural synonym)
Sansevieria cannaefolia Spreng. (nomenclatural synonym)
Sansevieria cannifolia (R.Br.) Spreng. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): NT, Qld

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_1981 (2), ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (13), Chen_2017 (4), Cooper_2013 (12), Crowley_2007 (2), Draper_2023 (3), Grubb_2008 (3), Kew_2019_1 (2), Metcalfe_2009 (16), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Weerasinghe_2014 (27), Wells_2012 (43), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 64 traits from 144 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 (3); resprouts (1) [sources: Crowley_2007; Metcalfe_2009; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]

flower morphology

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

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 12 mm (10-14 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
fruit_width (numerical): 12 mm (10-14 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
fruit_type (categorical): berry (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (5) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Metcalfe_2009; Sjostrom_2006; Wells_2012]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (3) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): red (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 19275.81 mm2 (2187.78-36000 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; Wells_2012]
leaf_length (numerical): 350 mm (200-500 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 85 mm (50-120 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 138.36 mg (103.36-180.22 mg) [sources: Wells_2012]
petiole_length (numerical): 12.5 cm (5-20 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 54.08 g/m2 (47.24-58.67 g/m2) [sources: Grubb_2008; Weerasinghe_2014; Wells_2012]
leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.23 g/g (0.19-0.24 g/g) [sources: Weerasinghe_2014; Wells_2012]
leaf_water_content_per_dry_mass (numerical): 4.1 g/g (4.1-4.1 g/g) [sources: Grubb_2008]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: ABRS_1981]
leaf_glaucousness (categorical): glaucous (1); not_glaucous (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (2); shrub (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; Cooper_2013; Metcalfe_2009; Wells_2012; Wenk_2022]
life_form (categorical): phanerophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; Metcalfe_2009; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: ABRS_2022; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1) [sources: ABRS_2022]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: ABRS_1981]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): bee (2); insect (1) [sources: Draper_2023; Metcalfe_2009; Wells_2012]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (2) [sources: Draper_2023; Metcalfe_2009]
dispersers (categorical): bats (1); birds (1); cassowaries (2); mammals (2); vertebrates (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; Draper_2023; Wells_2012]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnyyyyyyyyn (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): short_persistent (1); transient (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; RussellSmith_2012]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): belowground_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 17.55 mg/g (16.9-18.2 mg/g) [sources: Grubb_2008; Weerasinghe_2014]
leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 1.3 mg/g (1.3-1.3 mg/g) [sources: Weerasinghe_2014]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 12.51 mg (12-13.02 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1]

stem morphology

wood_density (numerical): 0.56 mg/mm3 (0.25-0.86 mg/mm3) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; Wells_2012]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 3.15 m (0.6-5 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Wells_2012	22	43	J. A. Wells. “Phylogeny and inter-relations of ecological traits and seed dispersal in rainforest plants: Exploring aspects of functional diversity in primary and secondary rainforests in Australia's Wet Tropics.”. PhD. University of Queensland, 2012.
Weerasinghe_2014	12	27	L. K. Weerasinghe, D. Creek, K. Y. Crous, S. Xiang, M. J. Liddell, M. H. Turnbull, and O. K. Atkin. “Canopy position affects the relationships between leaf respiration and associated traits in a tropical rainforest in Far North Queensland”. Tree Physiology 34.6 (2014), pp. 564-584. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpu016.
Metcalfe_2009	16	16	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.
ABRS_2023	9	13	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Cooper_2013	10	12	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
ABRS_2022	4	4	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Chen_2017	4	4	Chen, S.-C., Cornwell, W., Z. H.-X., Moles, and A. T. “Plants show more flesh in the tropics: Variation in fruit type along latitudinal and climatic gradients.”. Ecography 40 (2017), pp. 531-538. doi: abs/10.1111/ecog.02010.
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.
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.
Grubb_2008	3	3	P. J. Grubb, R. V. Jackson, I. M. Barberis, J. N. Bee, D. A. Coomes, N. J. Dominy, M. A. S. D. L. Fuente, P. W. Lucas, D. J. Metcalfe, J. Svenning, I. M. Turner, and O. Vargas. “Monocot leaves are eaten less than dicot leaves in tropical lowland rain forests: Correlations with toughness and leaf presentation”. Annals of Botany 101 (2008), pp. 1379-1389. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcn047.
ABRS_1981	2	2	B. A. Barlow, H. T. Clifford, A. S. George, and A. K. A. McCusker. Flora of Australia. 1981. url: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/flora/main/.
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).
Kew_2019_1	1	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
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.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.