Gahnia melanocarpa

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Cyperaceae

Taxonomy: Gahnia melanocarpa R.Br.

Synonyms: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)

Cladium melanocarpum (R.Br.) F.Muell. (nomenclatural synonym)
Mariscus melanocarpus (R.Br.) Kuntze (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW, Vic

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Benwell_2024 (4), Cheal_2017 (2), Hughes_1992 (3), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kubiak_2009 (4), Leishman_1993 (1), Leishman_1995 (6), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (10), NSWFRD_2014 (4), RBGV_2022 (3), RBGV_2023 (10), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (20). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 46 traits from 82 records in 17 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); resprouts (4) [sources: Benwell_2024; Cheal_2017; Kubiak_2009; NSWFRD_2014; White_2020]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1) [sources: Benwell_2024]
fire_time_from_fire_to_flowering (numerical): 24 mo (24-24 mo) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): red_brown (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): andromonoecious (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 3 mm (2.5-3.5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 1.75 mm (1.5-2 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 1.75 mm (1.5-2 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): nut (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): black (2); brown (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 15000 mm2 (15000-15000 mm2) [sources: Leishman_1995]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 37.51 g/m2 (37.51-37.51 g/m2) [sources: Leishman_1995]
leaf_shape (categorical): linear (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: White_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (4); herb (4); tussock (1) [sources: Hughes_1992; Leishman_1995; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022]
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): barochory (1); endozoochory (1) [sources: Leishman_1995; White_2020]
dispersers (categorical): birds (1) [sources: White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnyynnnnn (1); yynnnnnnyyyy (2) [sources: Hughes_1992; NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Benwell_2024]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_buds (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 4.35 mg (4.18-4.66 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1; Leishman_1993; Leishman_1995]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 1.5 m (1-2 m) [sources: Hughes_1992; Leishman_1995]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
White_2020	20	20	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
NHNSW_2023	7	10	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/.
RBGV_2023	7	10	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Leishman_1995	6	6	M. R. Leishman, M. Westoby, and E. Jurado. “Correlates of seed size variation: A comparison among five temperate floras”. Journal of Ecology 83 (1995), pp. 517-529. doi: 10.2307/2261604.
Benwell_2024	4	4	A. 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.
Kubiak_2009	3	4	P. J. Kubiak. “Fire responses of bushland plants after the January 1994 wildfires in northern Sydney”. Cunninghamia 11.1 (2009), pp. 131-165.
NHNSW_2014_2	4	4	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NSWFRD_2014	4	4	B. 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.
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.
Hughes_1992	3	3	L. Hughes and B. Rice. “Unpublished data: Traits data for 643 species, Macquarie University”. 1992.
NHNSW_2022	3	3	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/.
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/.
Cheal_2017	2	2	D. 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.
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/.
Leishman_1993	1	1	M. Leishman. “Unpublished data: Seed mass data for Sydney species, Macquarie University”. 1990.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.