Cuscuta tasmanica

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Family Convolvulaceae

Taxonomy: Cuscuta tasmanica Engelm.

Synonyms: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)

Cuscuta tasmanica Engelm. var. tasmanica (nomenclatural synonym)
Cuscuta tasmanica var. brevistyla Yunck. (taxonomic synonym)

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

Cuscuta australis R.Br. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): SA, NSW, Vic, Tas

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Draper_2023 (3), Jordan_2001 (6), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kew_2019_6 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (4), RBGV_2022 (3), RBGV_2023 (7), SAH_2022 (4), SAH_2023 (11), Sjostrom_2006 (4), TMAG_2009 (7), WAH_2022_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (18), Williams_2011 (9), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (25). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 67 traits from 120 records in 19 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) [sources: White_2020]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): white_cream (1) [sources: eFLOWER_Dun_2022]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (2); monoecious (1) [sources: Jordan_2001; Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_width (numerical): 3.65 mm (3.5-3.8 mm) [sources: SAH_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 3.65 mm (3.5-3.8 mm) [sources: SAH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (4) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Jordan_2001; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (2) [sources: SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_type (categorical): scale (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: White_2020; Williams_2011]
plant_growth_form (categorical): climber (1); climber_herbaceous (3); herb (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; TMAG_2009; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_form (categorical): phanerophyte (1) [sources: Williams_2011]
life_history (categorical): annual (5); perennial (1) [sources: Jordan_2001; NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; TMAG_2009; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): climbing (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: TMAG_2009]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (2) [sources: White_2020; Williams_2011]
root_structure (categorical): parasitic_root (1) [sources: Williams_2011]
parasitic (categorical): hemiparasitic (1); parasitic (6) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; White_2020; Williams_2011]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (2); self (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
pollination_system (categorical): biotic_unspecialised (1) [sources: Williams_2011]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (2); endozoochory (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020; Williams_2011]
dispersers (categorical): mammals (1); passive (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnyy (1); yyyyynnnnnny (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; TMAG_2009; White_2020]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): transient (1) [sources: White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): non_clonal (1) [sources: Williams_2011]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 1.41 mg (1.41-1.41 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1]
seed_length (numerical): 1.79 mm (1.5-2 mm) [sources: Jordan_2001; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; TMAG_2009]
seed_width (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Jordan_2001]

whole plant morphology

plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
eFLOWER_Dun_2022	21	25	L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
White_2020	18	18	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
SAH_2023	8	11	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/.
Williams_2011	9	9	R. P. Duncan, S. E. Clemants, R. T. Corlett, A. K. Hahs, M. A. McCarthy, M. J. McDonnell, M. W. Schwartz, K. Thompson, P. A. Vesk, and N. S. G. Williams. “Plant traits and extinction in urban areas: a meta-analysis of 11 cities”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20.4 (2011), pp. 509-519. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00633.x.
RBGV_2023	6	7	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
TMAG_2009	6	7	Tasmanian Herbarium. Flora of Tasmania Online. 2009. url: http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/floratasmania.
Jordan_2001	6	6	G. J. Jordan. “An investigation of long-distance dispersal based on species native to both Tasmania and New Zealand”. Australian Journal of Botany 49.3 (2001), pp. 333-340. doi: 10.1071/bt00024.
NHNSW_2014_2	4	4	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2022	4	4	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/.
NHNSW_2023	4	4	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/.
SAH_2022	4	4	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/.
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.
Kew_2019_6	1	3	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Germination data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
RBGV_2022	3	3	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Kew_2019_1	1	1	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.