Helicteres hirsuta

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Malvaceae

Taxonomy: Helicteres hirsuta Lour.

Synonyms: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)

Helicteres spicata Colebr. ex G.Don (taxonomic synonym)
Methorium spicatum (Colebr. ex G.Don) F.Muell. (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): NT

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Crowley_2007 (2), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kooyman_2011 (13), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (25), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 35 traits from 58 records in 10 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): resprouts (3) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 22.5 mm (15-30 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 10 mm (10-10 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 10 mm (10-10 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (2) [sources: NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (2) [sources: NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): brown (1) [sources: NTH_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 137.5 mm (80-200 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 86.25 mm (35-180 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
petiole_length (numerical): 1.3 cm (0.8-1.8 cm) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); lanceolate (1); ovate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (1); oblique (1); rounded (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): toothed_serrate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_arrangement (categorical): distichous (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NTH_2023]

life history

plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (3) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): perennial (2) [sources: NTH_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1); open (1) [sources: NTH_2022]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: RussellSmith_2012]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2); bud-bearing_root (2); rhizome (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 1.45 mg (1.45-1.45 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1]
seed_length (numerical): 6.5 mm (2-12 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
seed_width (numerical): 3.75 mm (1.5-7 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
seed_shape (categorical): polyhedral (1) [sources: NTH_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 2.25 m (1.5-3 m) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
NTH_2023	21	25	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	9	13	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.
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/.
RussellSmith_2012	4	4	J. Russell-Smith, M. R. Gardener, C. Brock, K. Brennan, C. P. Yates, and B. Grace. “Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales - an Australian example”. Journal of Biogeography 39 (2012), pp. 1657-1668. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02714.x.
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.
Crowley_2007	2	2	G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_2011	2	2	C. 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.
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/.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.