Polymeria pusilla

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Family Convolvulaceae

Taxonomy: Polymeria pusilla R.Br.

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Polymeria sp. (aff. ambigua) (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): NT, Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Crowley_2007 (2), NHNSW_2014_2 (2), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (21), Nano_2011 (2), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (21), Wright_2000 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 44 traits from 60 records in 10 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): fire_killed (2); resprouts (1) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011; White_2020]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): pink (1); yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 5 mm (4-6 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 5 mm (4-6 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 5 mm (4-6 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 20 mm (10-30 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 13.5 mm (7-20 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
petiole_length (numerical): 1.35 cm (0.2-2.5 cm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): oblong (1); ovate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): cordate (1); truncate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: White_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): climber_herbaceous (1); herb (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
life_form (categorical): geophyte (1) [sources: White_2020]
life_history (categorical): perennial (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): prostrate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2022]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (1) [sources: White_2020]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): anemochory (1); epizoochory (1); hydrochory (1) [sources: White_2020]
dispersers (categorical): mammals (1); water (1); wind (1) [sources: White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): yyyyynnnnnny (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
bud_bank_location (categorical): none (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

whole plant morphology

plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
NHNSW_2023	15	21	N. 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/.
White_2020	21	21	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
NHNSW_2022	4	4	N. 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/.
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.
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).
NHNSW_2014_2	2	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.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.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.
Wright_2000	1	1	I. 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.