AusTraits

Cucumis althaeoides

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Cucurbitaceae

Taxonomy: Cucumis althaeoides (Ser.) P.Sebastian & I.Telford

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Bryonia althaeoides Ser. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Melothria altaeoides Nakai (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Melothria althaeoides (Ser.) Nakai (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Mukia althaeoides (Ser.) M.Roem. (nomenclatural synonym)
Misapplied names: 5 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Cucumis maderaspatanus L. (pro parte misapplied)
  • Melothria maderaspatana (L.) Cogn. (pro parte misapplied)
  • Mukia maderaspatana (L.) M.Roem. (misapplied)
  • Mukia maderaspatana (L.) M.Roem. (pro parte misapplied)
  • Mukia scabrella (L.) Arn. (pro parte misapplied)

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (19), ATRP_2020 (3), Cooper_2013 (13), Crowley_2007 (2), Kooyman_2011 (12), NHNSW_2014_2 (1), NHNSW_2022 (5), NHNSW_2023 (24), SAH_2023 (16), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Sweedman_2006 (3), WAH_2022_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 35 traits from 112 records in 15 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
flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): monoecious (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 10.75 mm (5-18 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 9.62 mm (5-18 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 10 mm (5-18 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): berry (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): red (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 61.12 mm (20-110 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 56 mm (10-110 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 4.93 cm (2-9 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): cordate (2); lanceolate (2); narrowly_ovate (1); ovate (2); triangular (2); widely_ovate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (1); hastate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): toothed_dentate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): lobed (4); unlobed (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): climber (1); climber_herbaceous (3); herb (5) [sources: ABRS_2022; ATRP_2020; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: ATRP_2020; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): climbing (1); prostrate (3) [sources: ATRP_2020; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • dispersers (categorical): birds (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnyyynnnnn (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (1); none (1) [sources: Crowley_2007]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 5.23 mm (3.8-7 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
  • seed_width (numerical): 3.02 mm (2.3-4 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • seed_shape (categorical): ovoid (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
NHNSW_20231724N. 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/.
ABRS_20231419Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
SAH_20231116S. 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_20131013W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Kooyman_2011912R. 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.
NHNSW_202255N. 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/.
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.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
ABRS_202233Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
ATRP_202033F. 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.
Sweedman_200613L. Sweedman and D. Merritt. Australian Seeds: A Guide to Their Collection, Identification, and Biology. CSIRO Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780643094079.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
NHNSW_2014_211Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.