Opercularia spermacocea

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Family Rubiaceae

Taxonomy: Opercularia spermacocea Labill. ex Juss.

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

Distribution (APC): WA

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Detombeur_2021 (54), Gosper_2012 (4), Guilherme_Pereira_2019 (48), Laliberte_2012 (14), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Tsakalos_2020 (18), Tsakalos_2022 (3), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 50 traits from 155 records in 12 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: Tsakalos_2020]

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_type (categorical): capsule (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Sjostrom_2006; Tsakalos_2020]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 381.09 mm2 (267.38-543 mm2) [sources: Laliberte_2012]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 67.43 g/m2 (47.63-129.63 g/m2) [sources: Guilherme_Pereira_2019; Laliberte_2012]
leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.14 g/g (0.11-0.17 g/g) [sources: Guilherme_Pereira_2019; Laliberte_2012]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): flat (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_glaucousness (categorical): not_glaucous (2) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
leaf_hairs_adult_leaves (categorical): hairy (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (3); shrub (2) [sources: Laliberte_2012; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3); woody (2) [sources: Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): erect (2); spreading (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020; WAH_2022_2]
root_structure (categorical): arbuscular_mycorrhizal (2) [sources: Laliberte_2012; Tsakalos_2020]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnyyyyyyyn (1); ynnnyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020; WAH_1998]
seedbank_location (categorical): canopy_seedbank_absent (1); soil_seedbank (1) [sources: Gosper_2012]
serotiny (categorical): not_serotinous (1) [sources: Gosper_2012]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): vegetative (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2022]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): rhizome (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2022]
bud_bank_location (categorical): rhizome_non_woody (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2022]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 12.89 mg/g (12.43-13.2 mg/g) [sources: Guilherme_Pereira_2019]
leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 1.01 mg/g (0.7-1.3 mg/g) [sources: Detombeur_2021]

physiology

leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_area_maximum (numerical): 42.39 umol{CO2}/m2/s (35.67-56.82 umol{CO2}/m2/s) [sources: Guilherme_Pereira_2019]
leaf_photosynthetic_rate_per_dry_mass_maximum (numerical): 0.34 umol{CO2}/g/s (0.3-0.44 umol{CO2}/g/s) [sources: Guilherme_Pereira_2019]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.25 m (0.1-0.4 m) [sources: WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: Tsakalos_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Detombeur_2021	9	54	F. de Tombeur, E. Laliberte, H. Lambers, M. Faucon, G. Zemunik, B. L. Turner, J. Cornelis, and G. Mahy. “A shift from phenol to silica-based leaf defenses during long-term soil and ecosystem development”. Ecology Letters 24.5 (2021), pp. 984-995. doi: 10.1111/ele.13713.
Guilherme_Pereira_2019	12	48	C. G. Pereira, P. E. Hayes, O. S. O'Sullivan, L. K. Weerasinghe, P. L. Clode, O. K. Atkin, and H. Lambers. “Trait convergence in photosynthetic nutrient-use efficiency along a 2-million year dune chronosequence in a global biodiversity hotspot”. Journal of Ecology 107.4 (2019), pp. 2006-2023. doi: 10.1111/1365-2745.13158.
Tsakalos_2020	17	18	J. L. Tsakalos, M. Renton, F. Riviera, E. J. Veneklaas, M. P. Dobrowolski, and L. Mucina. “Trait-based formal definition of plant functional types and functional communities in the multi-species and multi-traits context”. Ecological Complexity 40 (2019), p. 100787. doi: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2019.100787.
Laliberte_2012	5	14	E. Laliberte, B. L. Turner, T. Costes, S. J. Pearse, K. Wyrwoll, G. Zemunik, and H. Lambers. “Experimental assessment of nutrient limitation along a 2-million-year dune chronosequence in the south-western Australia biodiversity hotspot”. Journal of Ecology 100 (2012), pp. 631-642. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2012.01962.x.
Gosper_2012	4	4	C. R. Gosper, C. J. Yates, and S. M. Prober. “Changes in plant species and functional composition with time since fire in two mediterranean climate plant communities”. Journal of Vegetation Science 23.6 (2012), pp. 1071-1081. doi: 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2012.01434.x.
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.
WAH_2022_2	4	4	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Tsakalos_2022	3	3	J. L. Tsakalos, G. Ottaviani, S. Chelli, A. Rea, S. Elder, M. P. Dobrowolski, and L. Mucina. “Plant clonality in a soil-impoverished open ecosystem: insights from southwest Australian shrublands”. Annals of Botany 130.7 (2022), pp. 981-990. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcac131.
WAH_2023_2	1	2	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
WAH_1998	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.