AusTraits

Microstachys chamaelea

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Euphorbiaceae

Taxonomy: Microstachys chamaelea (L.) Hook.f.

Synonyms: 8 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Elachocroton asperococcum F.Muell. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Excaecaria chamaela Baill. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Excoecaria chamaelea (L.) Baill. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Sebastiana chamaelea B.Hyland (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Sebastiania chamaelea (L.) Müll.Arg. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Sebastiania chamelaea Chippend. (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Stillingia asperococca Müll.Arg. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Tragia chamaelea L. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, Qld

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Cooper_2013 (13), Crowley_2007 (1), Kooyman_2011 (9), Lord_1997 (4), Munroe_2019 (1), NTH_2014 (3), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (20), Nano_2011 (1), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (1), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (1), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (29). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 61 traits from 101 records in 17 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]
flower morphology
  • flower_diameter (numerical): 0.06 cm (0.05-0.1 cm) [sources: eFLOWER_Dun_2022]
  • sex_type (categorical): monoecious (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 5.75 mm (4-7 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 5.75 mm (4-7 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 6 mm (6-6 mm) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): capsule (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): green (1); red (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 65.5 mm (12-90 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 14.5 mm (2-19 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 0.3 cm (0.1-0.5 cm) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): narrowly_elliptical (1); narrowly_oblong (1); ovate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): toothed_serrate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Munroe_2019]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (4); shrub (4); subshrub (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; Lord_1997; NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (2); woody (2) [sources: NTH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (1) [sources: NTH_2022]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NTH_2014]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): myrmecochory (1) [sources: Lord_1997]
  • dispersers (categorical): ants (1) [sources: Lord_1997]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yyyyyynnnnnn (1); yyyyyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2014]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: RussellSmith_2012]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 13.1 mg (13.1-13.1 mg) [sources: Lord_1997]
  • seed_length (numerical): 4.5 mm (4-5 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NTH_2023]
  • seed_width (numerical): 3.5 mm (3-4 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_shape (categorical): ovoid_elongated (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 0.97 m (0.9-1 m) [sources: Cooper_2013; NTH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
eFLOWER_Dun_20222429L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
NTH_20231620D. 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/.
Cooper_20131013W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Kooyman_201189R. 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.
Lord_199744J. Lord, J. Egan, T. Clifford, E. Jurado, M. Leishman, D. Williams, and M. Westoby. “Larger seeds in tropical floras: Consistent patterns independent of growth form and dispersal mode”. Journal of Biogeography 24 (1997), pp. 205-211. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2699.1997.00126.x.
NTH_202244D. 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/.
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.
NTH_201433Northern Territory Herbarium. Flora of the Darwin Region Online. 2014. url: http://www.lrm.nt.gov.au/plants-and-animals/herbarium/darwin_flora_online.
WAH_2022_233Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Crowley_200711G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
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.
Nano_201111C. 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_2023_211Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://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.