Lobelia purpurascens

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Family Campanulaceae

Taxonomy: Lobelia purpurascens R.Br.

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)

Lobelia ilicifolia Sims (taxonomic synonym)
Pratia puberula f. arguta E.Wimm. (taxonomic synonym)
Pratia purpurascens (R.Br.) E.Wimm. (nomenclatural synonym)
Rapuntium purpurascens (R.Br.) C.Presl (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW, LHI (formerly naturalised), NI (formerly naturalised), Vic

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Fonseca_2000 (5), Hughes_1992 (3), Kubiak_2009 (5), Leishman_1993 (1), Leishman_1995 (6), Leishman_2007 (14), Mesaglio_2022 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (3), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (16), NSWFRD_2014 (7), Pickup_2021 (9), RBGV_2022 (5), RBGV_2023 (22), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (21). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 57 traits from 126 records in 17 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 (3); resprouts (4) [sources: Kubiak_2009; NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021; White_2020]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (3) [sources: Pickup_2021]
fire_time_from_fire_to_flowering (numerical): 3.6 mo (3.6-3.6 mo) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1); pink (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): dioecious (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 7 mm (3-10 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 6 mm (3-10 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 7.5 mm (5-10 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 75 mm2 (48-102 mm2) [sources: Fonseca_2000; Leishman_1995]
leaf_length (numerical): 15.5 mm (4-28 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 6.62 mm (2.5-12 mm) [sources: Fonseca_2000; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 1 mg (1-1 mg) [sources: Fonseca_2000]
petiole_length (numerical): 0.2 cm (0.2-0.2 cm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 28.88 g/m2 (27.93-31.63 g/m2) [sources: Fonseca_2000; Leishman_1995; Leishman_2007]
leaf_shape (categorical): lanceolate (2); ovate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): obtuse (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): toothed (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: White_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (12); shrub (1) [sources: Fonseca_2000; Hughes_1992; Leishman_1995; Leishman_2007; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; Pickup_2021; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
life_history (categorical): perennial (2) [sources: RBGV_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): decumbent (1); prostrate (2) [sources: RBGV_2022; White_2020]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (1) [sources: White_2020]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (1); zoochory (1) [sources: Leishman_1995; White_2020]
dispersers (categorical): invertebrates (1) [sources: White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnnnyn (2); nnnnnnnnnynn (1); yyyyynnnnnny (1); yyyyyynnnyyy (3) [sources: Hughes_1992; Mesaglio_2022; NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014; White_2020]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): vegetative (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
storage_organ (categorical): rhizome (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 36.82 mg/g (21.35-52.29 mg/g) [sources: Leishman_2007]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.18 mg (0.15-0.2 mg) [sources: Leishman_1993; Leishman_1995]
seed_length (numerical): 0.85 mm (0.8-0.9 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
seed_shape (categorical): ellipsoid (1) [sources: RBGV_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 6.06 m (0.12-12 m) [sources: Hughes_1992; Leishman_1995]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
RBGV_2023	16	22	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
White_2020	21	21	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
NHNSW_2023	12	16	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/.
Leishman_2007	7	14	M. R. Leishman, T. Haslehurst, A. Ares, and Z. Baruch. “Leaf trait relationships of native and invasive plants: community- and global-scale comparisons”. New Phytologist 176.3 (2007), pp. 635-643. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02189.x.
Pickup_2021	3	9	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.
NSWFRD_2014	7	7	B. Kenny, C. Orscheg, E. Tasker, M. A. Gill, and R. Bradstock. NSW Flora Fire Response Database, v2.1. database. NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, 2014.
Leishman_1995	6	6	M. R. Leishman, M. Westoby, and E. Jurado. “Correlates of seed size variation: A comparison among five temperate floras”. Journal of Ecology 83 (1995), pp. 517-529. doi: 10.2307/2261604.
Fonseca_2000	5	5	C. R. Fonseca, J. M. Overton, B. Collins, and M. Westoby. “Shifts in trait-combinations along rainfall and phosphorus gradients”. Journal of Ecology 88 (2000), pp. 964-977. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2745.2000.00506.x.
Kubiak_2009	3	5	P. J. Kubiak. “Fire responses of bushland plants after the January 1994 wildfires in northern Sydney”. Cunninghamia 11.1 (2009), pp. 131-165.
RBGV_2022	5	5	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Hughes_1992	3	3	L. Hughes and B. Rice. “Unpublished data: Traits data for 643 species, Macquarie University”. 1992.
Mesaglio_2022	1	3	T. Mesaglio. “Unpublished data: Comprehensive biodiversity survey of Wategora Reserve and Everley Park along Duck River, western Sydney”. 2022. doi: 10.32942/X29886.
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.
Leishman_1993	1	1	M. Leishman. “Unpublished data: Seed mass data for Sydney species, Macquarie University”. 1990.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.