Helicteres sphaerotheca

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Malvaceae

Taxonomy: Helicteres sphaerotheca Cowie

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)

Helicteres D21039 Alligator River (taxonomic synonym)
Helicteres D21039 linifolia (taxonomic synonym)
Helicteres sp. linear leaves (L.A.Craven 7854) Cowie (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): NT

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Crowley_2007 (2), NTH_2022 (3), NTH_2023 (27), Nano_2011 (2), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 29 traits from 41 records in 7 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 (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

flower morphology

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

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 9.5 mm (8-11 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 9.5 mm (8-11 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 9.5 mm (8-11 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]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 25 mm (15-35 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 4.5 mm (2-7 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
petiole_length (numerical): 0.08 cm (0.05-0.1 cm) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): narrowly_lanceolate (1); narrowly_oblanceolate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): rounded (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1); toothed_serrate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (1); recurved (1) [sources: 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): subshrub (2) [sources: NTH_2022; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): perennial (2) [sources: NTH_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (1) [sources: Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1) [sources: NTH_2022]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

seed morphology

seed_length (numerical): 2.5 mm (2.5-2.5 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
seed_width (numerical): 2 mm (2-2 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
seed_shape (categorical): polyhedral (1) [sources: NTH_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.6 m (0.6-0.6 m) [sources: NTH_2023]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
NTH_2023	21	27	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/.
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.
NTH_2022	3	3	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/.
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.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.