AusTraits

Paspalum vaginatum

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Poaceae

Taxonomy: Paspalum vaginatum Sw.

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Paspalum distichum var. littorale (R.Br.) F.M.Bailey (taxonomic synonym)
  • Paspalum litorale Spreng. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Paspalum littorale R.Br. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Paspatum vaginatum Sw. (orthographic variant)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Paspalum distichum L. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), CoI, NT (native and naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld, NSW, LHI, Vic (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Kew_2019_1 (1), Metcalfe_2020_2 (18), NHNSW_2014_2 (1), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (6), NTH_2022 (4), NTH_2023 (9), RBGV_2022 (5), RBGV_2023 (7), SAH_2014 (1), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (5), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_2022_1 (4), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_1 (1), WAH_2023_2 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 29 traits from 84 records in 19 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_type (categorical): caryopsis (8) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006; WAH_2023_1; WAH_2023_2]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1); indehiscent (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 330.75 mm2 (330.75-330.75 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 132.5 mm (25-220 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 4.5 mm (1-8 mm) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): linear (1) [sources: NTH_2023]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): conduplicate (2); flat (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (4) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
life history
  • photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c4 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (6); herb (5); tussock (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • life_form (categorical): hemicryptophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (7) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
  • plant_growth_substrate (categorical): semiaquatic (1) [sources: RBGV_2022]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (7) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
  • stem_growth_habit (categorical): rhizomatous (5); spreading (1); stoloniferous (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; NTH_2022; RBGV_2022; WAH_2022_1; WAH_2022_2]
  • root_structure (categorical): non_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • pollination_syndrome (categorical): wind (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): epizoochory (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnnnny (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): vegetative (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): aboveground_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
  • storage_organ (categorical): rhizome (5) [sources: NHNSW_2023; NTH_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.63 mg (0.63-0.63 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 0.48 m (0.1-0.6 m) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2014; WAH_2023_2]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
Metcalfe_2020_21718D. Metcalfe. “Unpublished data: Traits of Poaceae spp, CSIRO”. 2020.
NTH_202379D. 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/.
RBGV_202377VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202366N. 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/.
RBGV_202255VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
SAH_202345S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
NHNSW_202244N. 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/.
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/.
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.
WAH_2022_144Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2022_244Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
WAH_2023_234Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
SAH_202233S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Kew_2019_111Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
NHNSW_2014_211Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
SAH_201411J. P. Jessop and H. R. Toelken. Flora of South Australia, 4th edition, 4 vols. Electronic version curated by J. Kellermann, State Herbarium of South Australia.. Government Printer, Adelaide, 1986.
WAH_2023_111Western 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.