AusTraits

Dendrocnide excelsa

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Urticaceae

Taxonomy: Dendrocnide excelsa (Wedd.) Chew

Synonyms: 5 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Laportea gigas Wedd. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Urera excelsa Wedd. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Urera rotundifolia Wedd. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Urtica gigas A.Cunn. ex Heward (taxonomic synonym)
  • Urticastrum gigas (Wedd.) Kuntze (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_1981 (1), ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (17), Benwell_2024 (4), Butler_2004 (5), Chen_2017 (6), Clarke_2009 (2), Clarke_2015 (3), Cooper_2013 (11), Ilic_2000 (2), Kew_2019_1 (3), Kooyman_2011 (14), NHNSW_2014_2 (2), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (16), NSWFRD_2014 (3), Ooi_2007 (100), Pickup_2021 (15), RadfordSmith_2024 (8), Sams_2017 (5), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (19), Wright_2000 (5). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 59 traits from 255 records in 25 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 (6); partial_resprouting (1) [sources: Benwell_2024; Clarke_2015; NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021; White_2020]
  • post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (4); post_fire_recruitment_absent (1) [sources: Benwell_2024; Clarke_2015; Pickup_2021]
flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): dioecious (2) [sources: ABRS_2022; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 2 mm (2-2 mm) [sources: Chen_2017; ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 1.83 mm (1.5-2.5 mm) [sources: Chen_2017; ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_type (categorical): achene (4); nut (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; Sams_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (4) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Sams_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (4) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Sams_2017; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): pink (1); purple (1); white (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 175 mm (100-250 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 140 mm (70-200 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 8.75 cm (5-15 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 76.54 g/m2 (76.54-76.54 g/m2) [sources: Sams_2017]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): orbicular (1); widely_ovate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2); toothed (1); toothed_crenate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): lobed (1); unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): tree (12) [sources: ABRS_2022; Butler_2004; Clarke_2009; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (4) [sources: ABRS_1981; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2014_2; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): abiotic (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (3) [sources: Butler_2004; RadfordSmith_2024; White_2020]
  • dispersers (categorical): birds (2); flying_vertebrates (1); vertebrates (1) [sources: Butler_2004; Cooper_2013; Sams_2017; White_2020]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnny (2); yyyynnnnnnyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (6) [sources: Benwell_2024; Clarke_2009; NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (3); transient (1) [sources: Pickup_2021; White_2020]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): none (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.55 mg (0.13-0.92 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1; Ooi_2007]
  • seed_length (numerical): 0.75 mm (0.5-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_width (numerical): 1.62 mm (0.5-2.5 mm) [sources: Butler_2004; Kooyman_2011]
stem morphology
  • wood_density (numerical): 0.24 mg/mm3 (0.21-0.37 mg/mm3) [sources: Ilic_2000; Kooyman_2011; RadfordSmith_2024]
whole plant morphology

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Ooi_20071100M. K. J. Ooi, P. Myerscough, and T. Auld. “Unpublished data: Longterm seed mass field campaign, University of New South Wales”. 2007.
White_20201919M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
ABRS_20231417Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NHNSW_20231316N. 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/.
Pickup_2021515M. 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.
Kooyman_20111014R. 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.
Cooper_20131011W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
RadfordSmith_202468J. Radford-Smith, H. R. Lai, E. C. Weeren, and J. M. Dwyer. “A Functional Basis for the Assembly of Australian Subtropical Rainforest Tree Communities”. Ecology Letters 27.11 (2024). ISSN: 1461-0248. doi: 10.1111/ele.70014.
Chen_201766Chen, 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.
Butler_200455D. W. Butler, R. J. Green, D. Lamb, W. J. F. Mcdonald, and P. I. Forster. “Biogeography of seed-dispersal syndromes, life-forms and seed sizes among woody rain-forest plants in Australia's subtropics”. Journal of Biogeography 34.10 (2007), pp. 1736-1750. ISSN: 1365-2699. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01734.x.
Sams_201755M. A. Sams, H. R. Lai, S. P. Bonser, P. A. Vesk, R. M. Kooyman, D. J. Metcalfe, J. W. Morgan, and M. M. Mayfield. “Landscape context explains changes in the functional diversity of regenerating forests better than climate or species richness”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26.10 (2017), pp. 1165-1176. doi: 10.1111/geb.12627.
Wright_200055I. J. Wright, H. T. Clifford, R. Kidson, M. L. Reed, B. L. Rice, and M. Westoby. “A survey of seed and seedling characters in 1744 Australian dicotyledon species: Cross-species trait correlations and correlated trait-shifts within evolutionary lineages”. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 69 (2000), pp. 521-547. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2000.tb01222.x.
ABRS_202244Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Benwell_202444A. Benwell. “Fire responses of flora in a sclerophyll-rainforest vegetation complex in the Nightcap Range, North Coast, New South Wales”. Australian Journal of Botany 72.1 (2024). Ed. by D. Williams. ISSN: 1444-9862. doi: 10.1071/bt23049.
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.
Clarke_201533P. J. Clarke, M. J. Lawes, B. P. Murphy, J. Russell-Smith, C. E. Nano, R. Bradstock, N. J. Enright, J. B. Fontaine, C. R. Gosper, I. Radford, J. J. Midgley, and R. M. Gunton. “A synthesis of postfire recovery traits of woody plants in Australian ecosystems”. Science of The Total Environment 534 (2015), pp. 31-42. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.002.
Kew_2019_113Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
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/.
NSWFRD_201433B. 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.
Clarke_200922P. J. Clarke, K. J. E. Knox, M. L. Campbell, and L. M. Copeland. “Post-fire recovery of woody plants in the New England Tableland Bioregion”. Cunninghamia 11 (2009), pp. 221-239. doi: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/4907.
Ilic_200012J. Ilic, D. Boland, M. McDonald, D. G, and P. Blakemore. Woody density phase 1 - State of knowledge. National Carbon Accounting System. Technical Report 18. Tech. rep. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, Australia, 2000.
NHNSW_2014_222Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ABRS_198111B. 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/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.