AusTraits

Melaleuca leucadendra

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Family Myrtaceae

Taxonomy: Melaleuca leucadendra (L.) L.

Synonyms: 12 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Cajuputi leucadendron (L.) Rusby ex A.Lyons (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Leptospermum leucodendron (L.) J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Melaleuca latifolia Raeusch. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Melaleuca leucadendra (L.) L. f. leucadendra (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Melaleuca leucadendra (L.) L. var. leucadendra (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Melaleuca leucadendra var. mimosoides (A.Cunn. ex Schauer) Cheel (taxonomic synonym)
  • Melaleuca leucadendron L.f. (orthographic variant)
  • Melaleuca leucadendron L.f. var. leucadendron (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Melaleuca leucadendron var. mimosoides Cheel (taxonomic synonym)
  • Melaleuca mimosoides A.Cunn. ex Schauer (taxonomic synonym)
  • Metrosideros coriacea Salisb. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Myrtus leucadendra L. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, Qld

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Brock_1993 (12), Canham_2023 (106), Collette_2021 (1), Cooper_2013 (11), Crowley_2007 (2), Gross_2005 (4), Ilic_2000 (4), Kew_2019_1 (3), Kooyman_2011 (11), Munroe_2019 (1), NTH_2014 (4), NTH_2022 (3), NTH_2023 (13), Nano_2011 (3), Prior_2003 (191), Rice_1991 (1), Richards_2008 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Sweedman_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_1 (3), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (1), Yang_2023 (2), Zanne_2009 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 59 traits from 400 records in 29 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
flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (2) [sources: Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 3 mm (2.5-4 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 4.25 mm (3-6 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): capsule (4) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 2721.69 mm2 (1647.67-4058.33 mm2) [sources: Prior_2003]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 160 mm (55-230 mm) [sources: Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 19.75 mm (7-37 mm) [sources: Brock_1993; NTH_2023]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 1 cm (0.5-1.5 cm) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 181.94 g/m2 (110.9-273.07 g/m2) [sources: Canham_2023; Prior_2003]
  • leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.39 g/g (0.24-0.54 g/g) [sources: Canham_2023; Prior_2003]
  • leaf_water_content_per_dry_mass (numerical): 2.14 g/g (1.42-3.15 g/g) [sources: Prior_2003]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); falcate (1); lanceolate (1); narrowly_lanceolate (1) [sources: Brock_1993; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (4) [sources: Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2014; Prior_2003]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: Munroe_2019; Prior_2003]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): tree (9) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2022; Prior_2003; Rice_1991; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (5) [sources: Brock_1993; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (4) [sources: NTH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (5) [sources: Brock_1993; Canham_2023; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2014; Prior_2003]
  • nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Prior_2003]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnyyyyyynnn (1); nnyyyyyyyynn (1); yyyyynnyyyyy (1); yyyyyynnnnnn (1) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; NTH_2014; WAH_1998]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): transient (1) [sources: RussellSmith_2012]
  • seed_dormancy_class (categorical): non_dormant (1) [sources: Collette_2021]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2); epicormic_buds (3) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]
nutrient and stable isotope
  • leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 8.24 mg/g (4.84-14.1 mg/g) [sources: Canham_2023; Prior_2003; Richards_2008]
  • leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 0.79 mg/g (0.58-2.05 mg/g) [sources: Prior_2003; Richards_2008]
  • leaf_delta13C (numerical): -33.13 {delta}[ppth] (-35.59--29.62 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Canham_2023]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.41 mg (0.05-0.59 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1]
  • seed_length (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_width (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
stem morphology
  • wood_density (numerical): 0.61 mg/mm3 (0.47-0.67 mg/mm3) [sources: Canham_2023; Ilic_2000; Kooyman_2011; Zanne_2009]
  • stem_vessel_density (numerical): 79.8 {count}/mm2 (39.2-232 {count}/mm2) [sources: Canham_2023]
  • stem_vessel_diameter (numerical): 27.29 um (16.77-35.71 um) [sources: Canham_2023]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 29.5 m (5-40 m) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Prior_200321191L. D. Prior, D. Eamus, and D. M. J. S. Bowman. “Leaf attributes in the seasonally dry tropics: A comparison of four habitats in northern Australia”. Functional Ecology 17 (2003), pp. 504-515. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2435.2003.00761.x.
Canham_202312106C. A. Canham, C. Woods, S. A. Setterfield, E. J. Veneklaas, F. L. Freestone, L. S. Beesley, and M. M. Douglas. “Functional traits of riparian trees in the lower Fitzroy River, Western Australia”. Ecohydrology 16.1 (2023). doi: 10.1002/eco.2488.
NTH_2023913D. 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/.
Brock_1993912J. Brock and A. Dunlop. Native plants of northern Australia. Reed New Holland, 1993. ISBN: 9781877069246.
Cooper_2013911W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Kooyman_2011911R. 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.
Gross_200544C. L. Gross. “A comparison of the sexual systems in the trees from the Australian tropics with other tropical biomes-more monoecy but why?”. American Journal of Botany 92.6 (2005), pp. 907-919. doi: 10.3732/ajb.92.6.907.
Ilic_200014J. Ilic, D. Boland, M. McDonald, D. G, and P. Blakemore. Woody density phase 1 - State of knowledge. National Carbon Accounting System. Technical Report 18. Tech. rep. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, Australia, 2000.
NTH_201444Northern Territory Herbarium. Flora of the Darwin Region Online. 2014. url: http://www.lrm.nt.gov.au/plants-and-animals/herbarium/darwin_flora_online.
RussellSmith_201244J. 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_200644A. 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.
Sweedman_200624L. Sweedman and D. Merritt. Australian Seeds: A Guide to Their Collection, Identification, and Biology. CSIRO Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780643094079.
Kew_2019_113Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
NTH_202233D. 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/.
Nano_201123C. 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_2022_133Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_233Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Richards_200822A. Richards and I. J. Wright. “Unpublished data: Transcription of Australian plant functional trait data from Ian Wright's collection of papers, Macquarie University”. 2009.
WAH_2023_212Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Yang_202322S. Yang. “Unpublished data: Fire response traits scored from national and state floras and the taxonomic literature, University of New South Wales”. 2023.
Collette_202111J. 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.
Munroe_201911S. 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.
Rice_199111B. Rice. “Unpublished data: Growth form of Kakadu plant species, Macquarie University”. 1991.
WAH_199811Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.
Wright_200011I. 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.
Zanne_200911A. E. Zanne, G. Lopez-Gonzalez, D. A. Coomes, J. Ilic, S. Jansen, S. L. Lewis, R. B. Miller, N. G. Swenson, M. C. Wiemann, and J. Chave. “Data from: Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum”. Dryad Digital Repository (2009). doi: 10.5061/dryad.234.