Hibiscus meraukensis

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Family Malvaceae

Taxonomy: Hibiscus meraukensis Hochr.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Brockmania membranacea W.Fitzg. (taxonomic synonym)

Misapplied names: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)

Hibiscus cannabinus L. (misapplied)
Hibiscus radiatus Cav. (pro parte misapplied)
Hibiscus radiatus Cav. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, Qld

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (2), ABRS_2023 (21), Brock_1993 (11), Clarke_2015 (3), Cooper_2013 (13), Crowley_2007 (2), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kew_2019_6 (3), Kooyman_2011 (11), Lord_1997 (3), Munroe_2019 (1), NTH_2022 (3), NTH_2023 (26), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Schmidt_2003 (17), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Sweedman_2006 (3), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wenk_2023_2 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 48 traits from 141 records in 24 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 (4) [sources: Clarke_2015; Crowley_2007; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]

flower morphology

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

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 13.83 mm (8-19 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 12.25 mm (10-15 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 12 mm (10-14 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 93.5 mm (21-197 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 99.88 mm (25-199 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
petiole_length (numerical): 5.2 cm (0.2-9.1 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); linear (2); narrowly_elliptical (1); narrowly_ovate (1); oblanceolate (1); obovate (1); orbicular (1); ovate (2); widely_obovate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; NTH_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (1); truncate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): toothed_serrate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_lobation (categorical): lobed (3); unlobed (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: Munroe_2019; Schmidt_2003]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (5); shrub (9); subshrub (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; Lord_1997; NTH_2022; Schmidt_2003; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): annual (5); perennial (2); short_lived_perennial (2) [sources: Brock_1993; NTH_2022; Schmidt_2003; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3); woody (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1) [sources: WAH_2022_2]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; Schmidt_2003]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (1) [sources: Lord_1997]
flowering_time (categorical): nnyyynnnnnnn (1); nnyyyyyyyynn (1); yyyyyyyyynny (1) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; WAH_1998]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: RussellSmith_2012]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (3) [sources: Clarke_2015; Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 27 mg/g (11.3-35 mg/g) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
leaf_delta13C (numerical): -29.78 {delta}[ppth] (-30.21--28.91 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Schmidt_2003]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 11.36 mg (10.13-12.6 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1; Lord_1997]
seed_length (numerical): 3.88 mm (3-5 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
seed_width (numerical): 3.12 mm (2-4 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
seed_shape (categorical): ovoid (1); polyhedral (2); reniform (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NTH_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 1.91 m (0.1-3 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
NTH_2023	18	26	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/.
ABRS_2023	16	21	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Schmidt_2003	10	17	S. Schmidt and G. R. Stewart. “d15N values of tropical savanna and monsoon forest species reflect root specialisations and soil nitrogen status”. Oecologia 134 (2003), pp. 569-577. doi: 10.1007/s00442-002-1150-y.
Cooper_2013	10	13	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Brock_1993	8	11	J. Brock and A. Dunlop. Native plants of northern Australia. Reed New Holland, 1993. ISBN: 9781877069246.
Kooyman_2011	8	11	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.
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.
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/.
Clarke_2015	3	3	P. J. Clarke, M. J. Lawes, B. P. Murphy, J. Russell-Smith, C. E. Nano, R. Bradstock, N. J. Enright, J. B. Fontaine, C. R. Gosper, I. Radford, J. J. Midgley, and R. M. Gunton. “A synthesis of postfire recovery traits of woody plants in Australian ecosystems”. Science of The Total Environment 534 (2015), pp. 31-42. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.04.002.
Kew_2019_6	1	3	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Germination data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Lord_1997	3	3	J. Lord, J. Egan, T. Clifford, E. Jurado, M. Leishman, D. Williams, and M. Westoby. “Larger seeds in tropical floras: Consistent patterns independent of growth form and dispersal mode”. Journal of Biogeography 24 (1997), pp. 205-211. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2699.1997.00126.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/.
Sweedman_2006	1	3	L. Sweedman and D. Merritt. Australian Seeds: A Guide to Their Collection, Identification, and Biology. CSIRO Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780643094079.
ABRS_2022	2	2	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.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.
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.
Kew_2019_1	1	1	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Munroe_2019	1	1	S. E. M. Munroe, F. A. McInerney, J. Andrae, N. Welti, G. R. Guerin, E. Leitch, T. Hall, S. Szarvas, R. Atkins, S. Caddy-Retalic, and B. Sparrow. “The Photosynthetic Pathways of Plant Species Surveyed in Australia's National Terrestrial Monitoring Network”. Scientific Data 8 (2021), p. 97. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-00877-z.
WAH_1998	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://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.
Wenk_2023_2	1	1	E. Wenk and D. Coleman. “Unpublished: Rain and flood-related flowering cues for Australia's flora, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2023.