Scaevola aemula

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Family Goodeniaceae

Taxonomy: Scaevola aemula R.Br.

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)

Lobelia aemula (R.Br.) Kuntze (nomenclatural synonym)
Merkusia sinuata (R.Br.) de Vriese (taxonomic synonym)
Scaevola sinuata R.Br. (taxonomic synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA, SA, Qld, NSW, Vic, Tas

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_1981 (2), ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (13), ANBG_2019 (6), Cheal_2017 (8), Chen_2017 (1), Jordan_2001 (7), Kew_2019_1 (1), Leishman_1992 (4), NHNSW_2014_2 (3), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (13), NSWFRD_2014 (3), RBGV_2022 (4), RBGV_2023 (13), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (14), Sjostrom_2006 (3), TMAG_2009 (12), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (1), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (19), eFLOWER_2021 (23). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 72 traits from 169 records in 26 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 (3) [sources: Cheal_2017; NSWFRD_2014; White_2020]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment (1) [sources: Cheal_2017]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1); white_cream (1); yellow_orange (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (2); monoecious (1) [sources: Jordan_2001; Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 4 mm (3-4.5 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (2) [sources: Jordan_2001; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 450 mm2 (450-450 mm2) [sources: Leishman_1992]
leaf_length (numerical): 51.6 mm (10-100 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; TMAG_2009]
leaf_width (numerical): 17.2 mm (4-31 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; TMAG_2009]
leaf_shape (categorical): obovate (4); ovate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; TMAG_2009]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): attenuate (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1); toothed (2); toothed_dentate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (5) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; TMAG_2009]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (3) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: White_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (10) [sources: ABRS_2022; Leishman_1992; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; TMAG_2009; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
life_history (categorical): perennial (9); short_lived_perennial (1) [sources: ABRS_2022; Cheal_2017; Jordan_2001; Leishman_1992; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; TMAG_2009; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (6) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): decumbent (4) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; WAH_2022_2]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (2) [sources: ABRS_1981; TMAG_2009]
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): epizoochory (1) [sources: White_2020]
dispersers (categorical): mammals (1) [sources: White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnyyyn (1); yyynnnnyyyyy (5); yyyynnnnnyyy (1) [sources: ABRS_1981; Chen_2017; NHNSW_2014_2; NSWFRD_2014; TMAG_2009; WAH_1998; White_2020]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): long_persistent (1); persistent (1) [sources: Cheal_2017; White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]
storage_organ (categorical): no_storage_organ (1) [sources: Leishman_1992]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 3.61 mg (2.65-4.57 mg) [sources: ANBG_2019; Kew_2019_1]
seed_length (numerical): 3.47 mm (3.44-3.5 mm) [sources: ANBG_2019; Jordan_2001]
seed_width (numerical): 2.37 mm (1.74-3 mm) [sources: ANBG_2019; Jordan_2001]
seed_shape (categorical): ovoid (2); polyhedral (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; ANBG_2019; NHNSW_2023]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.5 m (0.5-0.5 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; TMAG_2009; WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
eFLOWER_2021	21	23	J. Schönenberger, M. Balthazar, A. L. Martinez, B. Albert, C. Prieu, S. Magallon, and H. Sauquet. “Phylogenetic analysis of fossil flowers using an angiosperm-wide data set: proof-of-concept and challenges ahead”. American Journal of Botany 107.10 (2020), pp. 1433-1448. doi: 10.1002/ajb2.1538.
White_2020	19	19	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
SAH_2023	11	14	S. 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/.
ABRS_2023	11	13	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
NHNSW_2023	11	13	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/.
RBGV_2023	10	13	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
TMAG_2009	10	12	Tasmanian Herbarium. Flora of Tasmania Online. 2009. url: http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/floratasmania.
Cheal_2017	8	8	D. Cheal. Growth stages and tolerable fire intervals for Victoria's native vegetation data sets. Fire and adaptive management, report no. 84. Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment Melbourne, 2010.
Jordan_2001	7	7	G. J. Jordan. “An investigation of long-distance dispersal based on species native to both Tasmania and New Zealand”. Australian Journal of Botany 49.3 (2001), pp. 333-340. doi: 10.1071/bt00024.
ANBG_2019	6	6	Australian National Botanic Gardens. The National Seed Bank. 2018. url: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/living/seedbank/.
ABRS_2022	4	4	Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Leishman_1992	4	4	M. R. Leishman and M. Westoby. “Classifying plants into groups on the basis of associations of individual traits-Evidence from Australian semi-arid woodlands”. Journal of Ecology 80 (1992), pp. 417-424. doi: 10.2307/2260687.
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/.
RBGV_2022	4	4	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
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/.
NHNSW_2014_2	3	3	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NSWFRD_2014	3	3	B. Kenny, C. Orscheg, E. Tasker, M. A. Gill, and R. Bradstock. NSW Flora Fire Response Database, v2.1. database. NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, 2014.
SAH_2022	3	3	S. 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/.
Sjostrom_2006	3	3	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.
ABRS_1981	2	2	B. A. Barlow, H. T. Clifford, A. S. George, and A. K. A. McCusker. Flora of Australia. 1981. url: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/flora/main/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Chen_2017	1	1	Chen, S.-C., Cornwell, W., Z. H.-X., Moles, and A. T. “Plants show more flesh in the tropics: Variation in fruit type along latitudinal and climatic gradients.”. Ecography 40 (2017), pp. 531-538. doi: abs/10.1111/ecog.02010.
Kew_2019_1	1	1	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
WAH_1998	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au.
WAH_2023_2	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://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.