Halophila ovalis

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Family Hydrocharitaceae

Taxonomy: Halophila ovalis (R.Br.) Hook.f.

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)

Caulinia ovalis R.Br. (nomenclatural synonym)
Halophila ovalis (R.Br.) Hook.f. subsp. ovalis (nomenclatural synonym)
Halophila ovata Gaudich. (taxonomic synonym)

Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Kernera ovalis (R.Br.) Schult. & Schult.f. (misapplied)

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

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (6), ABRS_2023 (17), NHNSW_2014_2 (2), NHNSW_2022 (6), NHNSW_2023 (14), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (6), WAH_2023_2 (1), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (14). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 39 traits from 74 records in 12 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): dioecious (3); trioecious (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; Sjostrom_2006; WAH_2022_2]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 4.25 mm (3-6 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 4.25 mm (3-6 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 4.25 mm (3-6 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): utricle (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 35 mm (10-60 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 10 mm (5-15 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
petiole_length (numerical): 3 cm (1-5 cm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); oblong (1); ovate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): whorled (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]

life history

plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
plant_growth_substrate (categorical): aquatic (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): rhizomatous (1); submerged (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2]
flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnyyy (1); yyyynnnyyyyy (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; WAH_1998]
storage_organ (categorical): rhizome (2); rhizome_fleshy (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; WAH_2023_2]

seed morphology

seed_width (numerical): 0.5 mm (0.5-0.5 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
seed_shape (categorical): globoid (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
ABRS_2023	13	17	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NHNSW_2023	9	14	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/.
eFLOWER_Dun_2022	13	14	L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
ABRS_2022	6	6	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NHNSW_2022	6	6	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/.
WAH_2022_2	6	6	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
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.
NHNSW_2014_2	2	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
WAH_1998	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
WAH_2023_2	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://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.