Heliophila pusilla

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Family Brassicaceae

Taxonomy: Heliophila pusilla L.f.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Heliophila pumila Benth. (orthographic variant)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), SA (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (17), Tsakalos_2020 (15), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (30). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 51 traits from 75 records in 8 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

flower_colour (categorical): white_cream (1) [sources: eFLOWER_Dun_2022]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 11.5 mm (5-18 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): silique (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 20 mm (5-35 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 1.9 mm (0.3-3.5 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): filiform (1); linear (1); oblanceolate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_glaucousness (categorical): not_glaucous (2) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_hairs_adult_leaves (categorical): glabrous (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Tsakalos_2020]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): annual (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (3); prostrate (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnyyyyyynn (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]

seed morphology

seed_length (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.22 m (0.05-0.5 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
eFLOWER_Dun_2022	26	30	L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
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.
Tsakalos_2020	14	15	J. L. Tsakalos, M. Renton, F. Riviera, E. J. Veneklaas, M. P. Dobrowolski, and L. Mucina. “Trait-based formal definition of plant functional types and functional communities in the multi-species and multi-traits context”. Ecological Complexity 40 (2019), p. 100787. doi: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2019.100787.
ABRS_2022	4	4	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
WAH_2022_2	4	4	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_2	1	2	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
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.