Hibiscus heterophyllus

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Family Malvaceae

Taxonomy: Hibiscus heterophyllus Vent.

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)

Hibiscus flabellatus Desf. (taxonomic synonym)
Hibiscus heterophyllus var. margeriae (A.Cunn. ex Benth.) Domin (taxonomic synonym)
Hibiscus hetherophyllus Macarthur & C.Moore (orthographic variant)
Hibiscus margeriae A.Cunn. ex Benth. (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Collette_2021 (1), Cooper_2013 (14), Kooyman_2011 (13), McCarthy_2017 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (3), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (9), Pickup_2021 (5), RadfordSmith_2024 (40), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (17). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 53 traits from 115 records in 13 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) [sources: Pickup_2021]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1) [sources: Pickup_2021]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1); pink (2); white_cream (2); yellow_orange (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; eFLOWER_Dun_2022]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 20 mm (15-25 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 12.5 mm (10-15 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (4) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; RadfordSmith_2024; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 2789.62 mm2 (2084.02-3427.18 mm2) [sources: McCarthy_2017; RadfordSmith_2024]
leaf_length (numerical): 120 mm (50-200 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 110 mm (40-180 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 173.86 mg (134.93-227.32 mg) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 58.64 g/m2 (55.09-67.99 g/m2) [sources: McCarthy_2017; RadfordSmith_2024]
leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.23 g/g (0.21-0.24 g/g) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024]
leaf_shape (categorical): lanceolate (1); linear (1); narrowly_ovate (1); ovate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_lobation (categorical): lobed (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

life history

plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (4); tree (4) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2022; Pickup_2021; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): perennial (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; RadfordSmith_2024]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (1) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
seedbank_location (categorical): soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Pickup_2021]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: Pickup_2021]
seed_dormancy_class (categorical): physical_dormancy (1) [sources: Collette_2021]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]

seed morphology

seed_length (numerical): 3.5 mm (3-4 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011]
seed_width (numerical): 2.75 mm (1-4 mm) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024; Kooyman_2011]

stem morphology

wood_density (numerical): 0.4 mg/mm3 (0.36-0.44 mg/mm3) [sources: McCarthy_2017; RadfordSmith_2024]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 8 m (8-8 m) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
RadfordSmith_2024	15	40	J. Radford-Smith, H. R. Lai, E. C. Weeren, and J. M. Dwyer. “A Functional Basis for the Assembly of Australian Subtropical Rainforest Tree Communities”. Ecology Letters 27.11 (2024). ISSN: 1461-0248. doi: 10.1111/ele.70014.
eFLOWER_Dun_2022	14	17	L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
Cooper_2013	11	14	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
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.
NHNSW_2023	8	9	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/.
Pickup_2021	5	5	M. Pickup and T. McDonald. Bushfire impacts — A national model for assessing local landscape restoration priorities. Project Phoenix Report. Greening Australia, 2021. url: https://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/1.02R2.pdf.
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.
McCarthy_2017	3	3	J. K. McCarthy, J. M. Dwyer, and K. Mokany. “A regional-scale assessment of using metabolic scaling theory to predict ecosystem properties”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286.1915 (2019), p. 20192221. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2221.
NHNSW_2014_2	3	3	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
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/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Collette_2021	1	1	J. C. Collette and M. K. J. Ooi. “Distribution of seed dormancy classes across a fire-prone continent: effects of rainfall seasonality and temperature”. Annals of Botany 127.5 (2021), pp. 613-620. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcaa203.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.