Melaleuca decora

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Family Myrtaceae

Taxonomy: Melaleuca decora (Salisb.) Britten

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)

Melaleuca genistifolia Sm. (taxonomic synonym)
Melaleuca genistifolia Sm. var. genistifolia (taxonomic synonym)
Metrosideros decora Salisb. (nomenclatural synonym)
Myrtoleucodendron genistifolium (Sm.) Kuntze (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Bloomfield_2018 (250), Collette_2021 (1), Kew_2019_1 (2), Kew_2019_6 (1), Lee_2019 (21), Mesaglio_2022 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (21), NSWFRD_2014 (8), Nolan_2022 (15), Ooi_2007 (64), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (4). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 64 traits from 404 records in 16 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): resprouts (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): white_cream (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_width (numerical): 2.12 mm (1-3 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 2.12 mm (1-3 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006; Wright_2000]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Sjostrom_2006; Wright_2000]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006; Wright_2000]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 13 mm (8-18 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 1.5 mm (1-2 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
petiole_length (numerical): 0.1 cm (0.1-0.1 cm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 140.25 g/m2 (127.01-162.2 g/m2) [sources: Bloomfield_2018]
leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.51 g/g (0.48-0.57 g/g) [sources: Bloomfield_2018]
leaf_shape (categorical): linear (1); narrowly_elliptical (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

life history

plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (3); tree (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): perennial (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnnnny (1); nnnnnnnnnnyn (1); nnnnnnnynnnn (1); yynnnnnnnnny (2) [sources: Mesaglio_2022; NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014]
seedbank_location (categorical): canopy_seedbank (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]
seed_dormancy_class (categorical): non_dormant (2) [sources: Collette_2021; Ooi_2007]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_buds (1); epicormic_buds (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 11.7 mg/g (9.08-20.46 mg/g) [sources: Bloomfield_2018]
leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 0.49 mg/g (0.36-0.6 mg/g) [sources: Bloomfield_2018]

physiology

leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_area_maximum (numerical): 14.15 umol{CO2}/m2/s (11.06-18.79 umol{CO2}/m2/s) [sources: Bloomfield_2018]
leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_dry_mass_maximum (numerical): 0.1 umol{CO2}/g/s (0.08-0.13 umol{CO2}/g/s) [sources: Bloomfield_2018]
leaf_stomatal_conductance_per_area_at_Amax (numerical): 93.73 mmol{H2O}/m2/s (41.5-173.2 mmol{H2O}/m2/s) [sources: Bloomfield_2018]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.04 mg (0.01-0.1 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1; Ooi_2007]

stem morphology

wood_density (numerical): 0.58 mg/mm3 (0.57-0.59 mg/mm3) [sources: Lee_2019]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 7 m (7-7 m) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Bloomfield_2018	24	250	K. J. Bloomfield, L. A. Cernusak, D. Eamus, D. S. Ellsworth, I. C. Prentice, I. J. Wright, M. M. Boer, M. G. Bradford, P. Cale, J. Cleverly, J. J. G. Egerton, B. J. Evans, L. S. Hayes, M. F. Hutchinson, M. J. Liddell, C. Macfarlane, W. S. Meyer, S. M. Prober, H. F. Togashi, T. Wardlaw, L. Zhu, and O. K. Atkin. “A continental-scale assessment of variability in leaf traits: Within species, across sites and between seasons”. Functional Ecology 32.6 (2018), pp. 1492-1506. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13097.
Ooi_2007	2	64	M. K. J. Ooi, P. Myerscough, and T. Auld. “Unpublished data: Longterm seed mass field campaign, University of New South Wales”. 2007.
Lee_2019	5	21	M. R. Lee, J. R. Powell, B. Oberle, W. K. Cornwell, M. Lyons, J. L. Rigg, and A. E. Zanne. “Good neighbors aplenty: fungal endophytes rarely exhibit competitive exclusion patterns across a span of woody habitats”. Ecology 100.9 (2019), p. e02790. doi: 10.1002/ecy.2790.
NHNSW_2023	13	21	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/.
Nolan_2022	3	15	Nolan and R. Helene. “Drought-related leaf functional traits control spatial and temporal dynamics of live fuel moisture content”. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology unknown.unknown (2022), p. unknown. doi: unknown.
NSWFRD_2014	8	8	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.
NHNSW_2014_2	4	4	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
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.
Wright_2000	4	4	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.
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_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/.
Kew_2019_1	1	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
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.
Kew_2019_6	1	1	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Germination data from the 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.