AusTraits

Cynosurus echinatus

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Poaceae

Taxonomy: Cynosurus echinatus L.

Synonyms: none listed in the APC 2026-07-30

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised), ACT (naturalised), Vic (naturalised), Tas (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (8), Catford_2014 (6), Cheal_2017 (3), Mokany_2008 (66), Munroe_2019 (1), NHNSW_2014_2 (1), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (7), NSWFRD_2014 (2), RBGV_2022 (4), RBGV_2023 (7), SAH_2022 (4), SAH_2023 (5), WAH_2022_1 (4), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_1 (1), WAH_2023_2 (3), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 36 traits from 134 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
fruit morphology
  • fruit_type (categorical): caryopsis (6) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_1; WAH_2023_2]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 267.77 mm2 (161.08-378.19 mm2) [sources: Mokany_2008]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 142.3 mm (56.5-230 mm) [sources: Mokany_2008; ABRS_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 9.74 mm (2-55 mm) [sources: Mokany_2008; ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 8.9 mg (4.8-13.1 mg) [sources: Mokany_2008]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 32.82 g/m2 (29.8-37.06 g/m2) [sources: Mokany_2008]
  • leaf_mass_fraction (numerical): 0.21 g/g (0.11-0.29 g/g) [sources: Mokany_2008]
  • leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.23 g/g (0.21-0.25 g/g) [sources: Mokany_2008]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): linear (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_inclination_angle (numerical): 73.5 deg (70-78 deg) [sources: Mokany_2008]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: Mokany_2008; Munroe_2019]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (8); herb (5); shrub (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; Catford_2014; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_form (categorical): therophyte (1) [sources: Mokany_2008]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (9) [sources: ABRS_2022; Catford_2014; Cheal_2017; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (7) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): caespitose (1); erect (2) [sources: RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Mokany_2008]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnyyyn (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: Catford_2014]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 1.46 mg (1.46-1.46 mg) [sources: Catford_2014]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 0.68 m (0.1-1 m) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Mokany_20081966K. Mokany and J. Ash. “Are traits measured on pot grown plants representative of those in natural communities?”. Journal of Vegetation Science 19 (2008), pp. 119-126. doi: 10.3170/2007-8-18340.
ABRS_202368Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NHNSW_202367N. 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/.
RBGV_202377VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Catford_201466J. A. Catford, W. K. Morris, P. A. Vesk, C. J. Gippel, and B. J. Downes. “Species and environmental characteristics point to flow regulation and drought as drivers of riparian plant invasion”. Diversity and Distributions 20 (2014), pp. 1084-1096. doi: 10.1111/ddi.12225.
SAH_202345S. 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/.
RBGV_202244VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_202244S. 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/.
WAH_2022_144Western 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.
Cheal_201733D. Cheal. Growth stages and tolerable fire intervals for Victoria's native vegetation data sets. Fire and adaptive management, report no. 84. Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment Melbourne, 2010.
NHNSW_202233N. 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/.
WAH_2022_233Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_223Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
NSWFRD_201422B. 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.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Munroe_201911S. E. M. Munroe, F. A. McInerney, J. Andrae, N. Welti, G. R. Guerin, E. Leitch, T. Hall, S. Szarvas, R. Atkins, S. Caddy-Retalic, and B. Sparrow. “The Photosynthetic Pathways of Plant Species Surveyed in Australia's National Terrestrial Monitoring Network”. Scientific Data 8 (2021), p. 97. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-00877-z.
NHNSW_2014_211Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_111Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.