AusTraits

Euphorbia hirta

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Family Euphorbiaceae

Taxonomy: Euphorbia hirta L.

Synonyms: 5 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Chamaesyce hirta (L.) Millsp. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Euphorbia chrysochaeta W.Fitzg. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Euphorbia pilulifera f. humifusa Domin (taxonomic synonym)
  • Euphorbia pilulifera f. rubromaculata Domin (taxonomic synonym)
  • Euphorbia pilulifera f. viridis Domin (taxonomic synonym)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Euphorbia pilulifera L. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), CoI (naturalised), ChI (naturalised), NT (naturalised), Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Crowley_2007 (2), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (5), NHNSW_2023 (16), NSWFRD_2014 (5), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (21), Nano_2011 (2), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (4). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 33 traits from 72 records in 13 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
  • flower_colour (categorical): pink (1); white_cream (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): monoecious (1) [sources: NHNSW_2022]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 1.08 mm (0.9-1.2 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 1.42 mm (1.2-1.5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 1.5 mm (1.5-1.5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): capsule (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 32 mm (13-40 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 16 mm (9-20 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 0.19 cm (0.1-0.3 cm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); lanceolate (1); obovate (1); ovate (1); rhomboidal (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): toothed (1); toothed_serrate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): opposite (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): annual (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): decumbent (3); dense (1); erect (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnyyyy (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014]
  • seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 0.85 mm (0.6-1 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • seed_width (numerical): 0.45 mm (0.4-0.5 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • seed_shape (categorical): ovoid (2); ovoid_elongated (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 0.4 m (0.1-0.8 m) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
NTH_20231421D. 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/.
NHNSW_20231416N. 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/.
NHNSW_202255N. 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_201455B. 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.
NHNSW_2014_244Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NTH_202244D. 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/.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wright_200044I. 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.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_201122C. E. M. Nano and P. J. Clarke. “How do drought and fire influence the patterns of resprouting in Australian deserts?”. Plant Ecology 212 (2011), pp. 2095-2110. doi: 10.1007/s11258-011-9988-x.
WAH_2023_212Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.