AusTraits

Melastoma affine

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Melastomataceae

Taxonomy: Melastoma affine D.Don

Synonyms: 5 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Melastoma malabathricum var. nana F.M.Bailey (taxonomic synonym)
  • Melastoma malabathricum var. nanum F.M.Bailey (taxonomic synonym)
  • Melastoma malabathricum var. polyanthum (Blume) Benth. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Melastoma novae-hollandiae Naudin (taxonomic synonym)
  • Melastoma polyanthum Blume (nomenclatural synonym)
Misapplied names: 2 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Melastoma denticulatum Labill. (misapplied)
  • Melastoma malabathricum L. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_1981 (1), ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (14), ANBG_2019 (1), Apgaua_2017 (12), Brock_1993 (11), Chen_2017 (4), Clarke_2015 (3), Cooper_2013 (13), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kooyman_2011 (10), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (14), NSWFRD_2014 (4), NTH_2014 (4), NTH_2022 (1), NTH_2023 (11), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Williams_2012 (3), Wright_2000 (6), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (26). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 74 traits from 162 records in 26 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 (3) [sources: Clarke_2015; NSWFRD_2014; Williams_2012]
  • post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (3) [sources: Clarke_2015; NSWFRD_2014; Williams_2012]
flower morphology
  • flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1); white_cream (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 9.75 mm (8-14 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 9.67 mm (8-14 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 9 mm (8-10 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): berry (1); capsule (2) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2); fleshy (1) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (3); indehiscent (2) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 106 mm (40-200 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 49 mm (10-95 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 1.1 cm (1-1.4 cm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (3); ovate (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2014]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): opposite (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (9); tree (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; Apgaua_2017; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (6) [sources: ABRS_2022; Brock_1993; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): bushy (1); prostrate (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2014_2]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (4) [sources: ABRS_1981; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2014]
  • flowering_time (categorical): ynnyyyyyyyyy (1); yynnnnnnyyyy (2); yyyyyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014; NTH_2014]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2); root_crown (1) [sources: Clarke_2015; Williams_2012]
nutrient and stable isotope
  • leaf_delta13C (numerical): -29.84 {delta}[ppth] (-29.84--29.84 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Apgaua_2017]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.08 mg (0.07-0.1 mg) [sources: ANBG_2019; Kew_2019_1]
  • seed_length (numerical): 0.5 mm (0.5-0.5 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_width (numerical): 0.5 mm (0.5-0.5 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_shape (categorical): sinusoidal (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
stem morphology
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 2.42 m (1-3 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
eFLOWER_Dun_20222426L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
ABRS_20231214Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NHNSW_20231214N. 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/.
Cooper_20131013W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Apgaua_20171112D. M. G. Apgaua, D. Y. P. Tng, L. A. Cernusak, A. W. Cheesman, R. M. Santos, W. J. Edwards, and S. G. W. Laurance. “Plant functional groups within a tropical forest exhibit different wood functional anatomy”. Functional Ecology 31.3 (2017), pp. 582-591. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.12787.
Brock_1993811J. Brock and A. Dunlop. Native plants of northern Australia. Reed New Holland, 1993. ISBN: 9781877069246.
NTH_2023811D. 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/.
Kooyman_2011810R. 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.
Wright_200066I. 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.
ABRS_202244Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Chen_201744Chen, S.-C., Cornwell, W., Z. H.-X., Moles, and A. T. “Plants show more flesh in the tropics: Variation in fruit type along latitudinal and climatic gradients.”. Ecography 40 (2017), pp. 531-538. doi: abs/10.1111/ecog.02010.
NHNSW_2014_244Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NSWFRD_201444B. 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.
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.
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.
Clarke_201533P. 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.
NHNSW_202233N. 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/.
WAH_2022_233Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Williams_201233P. R. Williams, M. Parsons, R. Jensen, and C. Tran. “Mechanisms of rainforest persistence and recruitment in frequently burnt wet tropical eucalypt forests”. Austral Ecology 37.2 (2012), pp. 268-275. ISSN: 1442-9993. doi: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2011.02271.x.
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.
ABRS_198111B. A. Barlow, H. T. Clifford, A. S. George, and A. K. A. McCusker. Flora of Australia. 1981. url: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/flora/main/.
ANBG_201911Australian National Botanic Gardens. The National Seed Bank. 2018. url: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/living/seedbank/.
Kew_2019_111Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
NTH_202211D. 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/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.