Dipteracanthus australasicus

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Family Acanthaceae

Taxonomy: Dipteracanthus australasicus F.Muell.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Dipteracanthus sessiliflorus Bremek. (taxonomic synonym)

Misapplied names: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)

Justicia kempeana F.Muell. (pro parte misapplied)
Ruellia bracteata R.Br. (misapplied)

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ANBG_2019 (1), Clarke_2015 (3), Cooper_2013 (11), Dong_2017 (8), Draper_2023 (3), Kooyman_2011 (12), NHNSW_2014_2 (10), NHNSW_2024 (12), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (17), SAH_2014 (4), SAH_2023 (7), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wenk_2023_2 (1), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (20). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 63 traits from 126 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

resprouting_capacity (categorical): fire_killed (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment_absent (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1); white_cream (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 12.58 mm (7-20 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 5 mm (4-6 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (5) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (4) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 19.05 mm (8-50 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2014_2; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023; SAH_2014]
leaf_width (numerical): 10.4 mm (2.5-30 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2014_2; NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023; SAH_2014]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 143.38 g/m2 (143.38-143.38 g/m2) [sources: Dong_2017]
leaf_type (categorical): broadleaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2024]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); ovate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2024; SAH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): attenuate (1); rounded (2) [sources: NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2); toothed (1); toothed_crenate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023]
leaf_margin_posture (categorical): flat (1); undulate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (3) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2014_2; SAH_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): opposite (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: NHNSW_2024; NTH_2023; SAH_2023]

life history

plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (3); shrub (5); subshrub (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (2); woody (3) [sources: NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): climbing (1); prostrate (1); spreading (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2022]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Dong_2017]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (1) [sources: Draper_2023]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (1) [sources: Draper_2023]
dispersers (categorical): passive (1) [sources: Draper_2023]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnnnnn (1); nyyyyyyyyynn (1); yyyyyynnnnnn (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2; WAH_1998]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 19.55 mg/g (19.55-19.55 mg/g) [sources: Dong_2017]
leaf_delta13C (numerical): -27.82 {delta}[ppth] (-27.82--27.82 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Dong_2017]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 3.31 mg (3.31-3.31 mg) [sources: ANBG_2019]
seed_length (numerical): 1.5 mm (1-2 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
seed_width (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
seed_shape (categorical): discoid (2) [sources: NTH_2023; SAH_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 1.08 m (0.1-1.5 m) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2; NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
eFLOWER_Dun_2022	17	20	L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
NTH_2023	13	17	D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
Kooyman_2011	8	12	R. 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_2024	9	12	N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on December, 2023.. 2024. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Cooper_2013	9	11	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
NHNSW_2014_2	8	10	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Dong_2017	8	8	N. Dong, I. C. Prentice, B. J. Evans, S. Caddy-Retalic, A. J. Lowe, and I. J. Wright. “Leaf nitrogen from first principles: field evidence for adaptive variation with climate”. Biogeosciences 14.2 (2017), pp. 481-495. doi: 10.5194/bg-14-481-2017.
SAH_2023	7	7	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/.
NTH_2022	4	4	D. of Land Resource Management and N. T. of Australia. Northern Territory Flora Online. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://eflora.nt.gov.au/.
SAH_2014	2	4	J. P. Jessop and H. R. Toelken. Flora of South Australia, 4th edition, 4 vols. Electronic version curated by J. Kellermann, State Herbarium of South Australia.. Government Printer, Adelaide, 1986.
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.
Clarke_2015	3	3	P. 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.
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.
WAH_2022_2	3	3	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_2	1	2	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ANBG_2019	1	1	Australian National Botanic Gardens. The National Seed Bank. 2018. url: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/living/seedbank/.
WAH_1998	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.
Wenk_2023_2	1	1	E. Wenk and D. Coleman. “Unpublished: Rain and flood-related flowering cues for Australia's flora, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2023.