Schoenoplectus subulatus

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Family Cyperaceae

Taxonomy: Schoenoplectus subulatus (Vahl) Lye

Synonyms: 8 (APC 2026-07-30)

Malacochaete pectinata (Roxb.) Nees (taxonomic synonym)
Schoenoplectus litoralis subsp. subulatus (Vahl) Soják (nomenclatural synonym)
Schoenoplectus litoralis subsp. subulatus (Vahl) T.Koyama (nomenclatural synonym)
Scirpus litoralis var. subulatus (Vahl) Chiov. (nomenclatural synonym)
Scirpus littoralis var. subulatus Chiov. (nomenclatural synonym)
Scirpus pectinatus Roxb. (taxonomic synonym)
Scirpus plumosus R.Br. (taxonomic synonym)
Scirpus subulatus Vahl (nomenclatural synonym)

Misapplied names: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)

Malacochaete litoralis (Schrad.) Nees (misapplied)
Schoenoplectus litoralis (Schrad.) Palla (misapplied)
Scirpus litoralis Schrad. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, SA, Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Draper_2023 (3), Kew_2019_1 (6), Kew_2019_6 (2), Metcalfe_2020_1 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (8), RBGK_2014 (2), SAH_2014 (3), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_2022_2 (10), WAH_2023_2 (6), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (38). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 40 traits from 103 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): resprouts (2) [sources: White_2020]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): red_brown (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
sex_type (categorical): gynomonoecious (1); hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 2 mm (2-2 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 1.35 mm (1.2-1.5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 1.35 mm (1.2-1.5 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): nut (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): black (1); brown (1); grey (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_length (numerical): 75 mm (50-100 mm) [sources: SAH_2014]
leaf_base_shape (categorical): sheathing (1) [sources: SAH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (3) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; White_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (5); graminoid_not_tussock (2); herb (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
life_history (categorical): perennial (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
plant_growth_substrate (categorical): aquatic (2) [sources: WAH_2022_2]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): rhizomatous (3) [sources: NHNSW_2022; WAH_2022_2]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (2) [sources: White_2020]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (2) [sources: White_2020]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): abiotic (2); wind (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (3) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
dispersers (categorical): birds (2); vertebrates (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): yynnnnnnyyyy (1); yyyyyyyyyyyy (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (2) [sources: White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1); vegetative (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_1; White_2020]
storage_organ (categorical): rhizome (4) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023; WAH_2023_2]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.86 mg (0.56-1.09 mg) [sources: Kew_2019_1; RBGK_2014]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 1.48 m (0.5-2.8 m) [sources: SAH_2014; WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (2) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
White_2020	19	38	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
WAH_2022_2	5	10	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2023	6	8	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/.
Kew_2019_1	1	6	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
WAH_2023_2	2	6	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2014_2	4	4	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
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/.
SAH_2023	4	4	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	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.
Draper_2023	3	3	J. T. Draper, S. Delean, J. G. Conran, P. Weinstein, and B. S. Simpson. “Life-history characteristics and climate correlates of dioecious plant species in central southern Australia”. Australian Journal of Botany unknown.unknown (2023), p. unknown. doi: 10.1071/BT22110.
Metcalfe_2020_1	3	3	D. Metcalfe. “Unpublished data: Database of Cyperaceae traits, CSIRO”. 2020.
SAH_2014	2	3	J. 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.
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/.
Kew_2019_6	1	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Germination data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
RBGK_2014	1	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID). 2014. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
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.