AusTraits

Cuscuta australis

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Convolvulaceae

Taxonomy: Cuscuta australis R.Br.

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Cuscuta obtusiflora var. australis (R.Br.) Engelm. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Grammica australis (R.Br.) Hadac & Chrtek (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Grammica scandens subsp. australis (R.Br.) Holub (nomenclatural synonym)

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Draper_2023 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (4), NSWFRD_2014 (6), Pickup_2021 (5), RBGV_2022 (3), RBGV_2023 (12), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (17). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 39 traits from 70 records in 14 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
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 3 mm (2-4 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 3 mm (2-4 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 3 mm (2-4 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
  • 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) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): climber (2); climber_herbaceous (2); herb (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Pickup_2021; RBGV_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): climbing (1); prostrate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • parasitic (categorical): parasitic (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; WAH_2022_2; White_2020]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (2) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (1); endozoochory (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
  • dispersers (categorical): mammals (1); passive (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnny (2); yyynnnnnnnyy (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014; WAH_1998]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (2) [sources: NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (2); transient (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021; White_2020]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 1.5 mm (1.5-1.5 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
White_20201717M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
RBGV_2023912VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
NSWFRD_201466B. 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.
Pickup_202155M. 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.
NHNSW_2014_244Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202244N. 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/.
NHNSW_202344N. 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/.
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/.
Draper_202333J. 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.
RBGV_202233VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
WAH_199811Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.