Melastoma malabathricum subsp. malabathricum

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Family Melastomataceae

Taxonomy: Melastoma malabathricum L. subsp. malabathricum

Synonyms: none listed in the APC 2026-07-30

Distribution (APC):

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Crowley_2007 (2), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Schmidt_2003 (14). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 16 traits from 22 records in 4 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): partial_resprouting (1); resprouts (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]

leaf morphology

leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.05 g/g (0.05-0.05 g/g) [sources: Schmidt_2003]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
life_history (categorical): perennial (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: RussellSmith_2012]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2); epicormic_buds (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 14 mg/g (14-14 mg/g) [sources: Schmidt_2003]
leaf_delta13C (numerical): -31.2 {delta}[ppth] (-31.2--31.2 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Schmidt_2003]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Schmidt_2003	11	14	S. Schmidt and G. R. Stewart. “d15N values of tropical savanna and monsoon forest species reflect root specialisations and soil nitrogen status”. Oecologia 134 (2003), pp. 569-577. doi: 10.1007/s00442-002-1150-y.
RussellSmith_2012	4	4	J. 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.
Crowley_2007	2	2	G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_2011	2	2	C. 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.