Maireana microphylla

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Chenopodiaceae

Taxonomy: Maireana microphylla (Moq.) Paul G.Wilson

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)

Enchylaena microphylla Moq. (nomenclatural synonym)
Enchylaena tomentosa var. leptophylla Benth. (doubtful taxonomic synonym)
Kochia microphylla (Moq.) F.Muell. (nomenclatural synonym)
Kochia tomentosa f. tenuis Domin (doubtful taxonomic synonym)

Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Kochia tamariscina (Lindl.) J.M.Black (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW, Vic

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (8), Clarke_2015 (3), Fonseca_2000 (7), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kew_2019_6 (3), McGlone_2015 (6), NHNSW_2014_2 (5), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (6), RBGV_2022 (4), RBGV_2023 (12), Sjostrom_2006 (3), Soliveres_2012 (3), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (19), Wright_2000 (5). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 50 traits from 95 records in 18 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 (2) [sources: Clarke_2015; White_2020]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment_absent (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): red_brown (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): dioecious (1) [sources: NHNSW_2022]

fruit morphology

fruit_width (numerical): 2.25 mm (1.5-3 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 2.25 mm (1.5-3 mm) [sources: RBGV_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): nutlet (1); utricle (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 1.4 mm2 (1.1-1.7 mm2) [sources: Fonseca_2000]
leaf_length (numerical): 5 mm (2-10 mm) [sources: McGlone_2015; ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 0.57 mm (0.3-1 mm) [sources: Fonseca_2000; McGlone_2015]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 117.57 g/m2 (100-135.14 g/m2) [sources: Fonseca_2000]
leaf_shape (categorical): terete (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; McGlone_2015; NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023]
leaf_glaucousness (categorical): glaucous (1); not_glaucous (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c4 (1) [sources: White_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (7); subshrub (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; Fonseca_2000; McGlone_2015; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Soliveres_2012; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1); prostrate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2022]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): abiotic (1) [sources: White_2020]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): anemochory (1); endozoochory (1) [sources: Soliveres_2012; White_2020]
dispersers (categorical): birds (1); wind (1) [sources: Soliveres_2012; White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnynnynnn (1) [sources: White_2020]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (1) [sources: Clarke_2015]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.77 mg (0.77-0.77 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 1 m (1-1 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; McGlone_2015; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
White_2020	19	19	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
RBGV_2023	9	12	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
ABRS_2023	7	8	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Fonseca_2000	4	7	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.
McGlone_2015	6	6	M. S. McGlone, S. J. Richardson, G. J. Jordan, and G. L. Perry. “Is there a `suboptimal' woody species height? A response to Scheffer et al.”. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 30.1 (2015), pp. 4-5. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.09.007.
NHNSW_2023	6	6	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/.
NHNSW_2014_2	5	5	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wright_2000	5	5	I. J. Wright, H. T. Clifford, R. Kidson, M. L. Reed, B. L. Rice, and M. Westoby. “A survey of seed and seedling characters in 1744 Australian dicotyledon species: Cross-species trait correlations and correlated trait-shifts within evolutionary lineages”. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 69 (2000), pp. 521-547. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2000.tb01222.x.
NHNSW_2022	4	4	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/.
RBGV_2022	4	4	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
ABRS_2022	3	3	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.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/.
Sjostrom_2006	3	3	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.
Soliveres_2012	3	3	S. Soliveres, D. J. Eldridge, F. Hemmings, and F. T. Maestre. “Nurse plant effects on plant species richness in drylands: The role of grazing, rainfall and species specificity”. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 14 (2012), pp. 402-410. doi: 10.1016/j.ppees.2012.09.003.
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/.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.