AusTraits

Semecarpus australiensis

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Anacardiaceae

Taxonomy: Semecarpus australiensis Engl.

Synonyms: 4 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Semecarpus anacardium var. parvifolia Benth. (taxonomic synonym)
  • Semecarpus australiensis Engl. var. australiensis (nomenclatural synonym)
  • Semecarpus australiensis var. macrophyllus Domin (taxonomic synonym)
  • Semecarpus australiensis var. obtusifolius Domin (taxonomic synonym)
Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Semecarpus anacardium L.f. (misapplied)

Distribution (APC): NT, Qld

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_1981 (1), ABRS_2022 (3), ABRS_2023 (17), Brock_1993 (11), Chen_2017 (4), Cooper_2013 (12), Crowley_2007 (2), Gross_2005 (4), Grubb_1996 (3), Ilic_2000 (1), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kew_2019_4 (1), Kooyman_2011 (9), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Wright_2000 (1), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (22). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 56 traits from 105 records in 20 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 (3) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]
flower morphology
  • sex_type (categorical): dioecious (2) [sources: Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 25 mm (15-35 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 26.75 mm (20-37 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_type (categorical): drupe (4); nut (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1); fleshy (3) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (4) [sources: Chen_2017; Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): orange (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_length (numerical): 250 mm (100-350 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 80 mm (40-120 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 1.75 cm (1-2.5 cm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (2); oblanceolate (1); oblong (1); obovate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): cuneate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (3) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): tree (6) [sources: ABRS_2022; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; Grubb_1996; Kooyman_2011; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; Brock_1993; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: ABRS_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): deciduous (1); evergreen (2) [sources: ABRS_1981; Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): zoochory (1) [sources: Grubb_1996]
  • dispersers (categorical): cassowaries (1) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnyyyn (1); nnnnnnnyyynn (1) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013]
  • seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): transient (1) [sources: RussellSmith_2012]
  • bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2); epicormic_buds (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]
seed morphology
  • seed_dry_mass (numerical): 3500 mg (2000-5000 mg) [sources: Grubb_1996; Kew_2019_1]
  • seed_length (numerical): 16 mm (15-17 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_width (numerical): 13.5 mm (12-15 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
stem morphology
  • wood_density (numerical): 0.39 mg/mm3 (0.39-0.39 mg/mm3) [sources: Ilic_2000]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 30 m (10-40 m) [sources: ABRS_2023; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
eFLOWER_Dun_20221822L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
ABRS_20231317Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Cooper_20131012W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Brock_1993911J. Brock and A. Dunlop. Native plants of northern Australia. Reed New Holland, 1993. ISBN: 9781877069246.
Kooyman_201179R. Kooyman, M. Rossetto, W. Cornwell, and M. Westoby. “Phylogenetic tests of community assembly across regional to continental scales in tropical and subtropical rain forests”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20 (2011), pp. 707-716. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00641.x.
Chen_201744Chen, 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.
Gross_200544C. L. Gross. “A comparison of the sexual systems in the trees from the Australian tropics with other tropical biomes-more monoecy but why?”. American Journal of Botany 92.6 (2005), pp. 907-919. doi: 10.3732/ajb.92.6.907.
RussellSmith_201244J. Russell-Smith, M. R. Gardener, C. Brock, K. Brennan, C. P. Yates, and B. Grace. “Fire persistence traits can be used to predict vegetation response to changing fire regimes at expansive landscape scales - an Australian example”. Journal of Biogeography 39 (2012), pp. 1657-1668. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02714.x.
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.
ABRS_202233Australian Biological Resources Study. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.ausflora.org.au.
Grubb_199633P. J. Grubb and D. J. Metcalfe. “Adaptation and inertia in the Australian tropical lowland rain-forest flora: Contradictory trends in intergeneric and intrageneric comparisons of seed size in relation to light demand”. Functional Ecology 10 (1996), pp. 512-520. doi: 10.2307/2389944.
Crowley_200722G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Nano_201122C. 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_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ABRS_198111B. 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/.
Ilic_200011J. Ilic, D. Boland, M. McDonald, D. G, and P. Blakemore. Woody density phase 1 - State of knowledge. National Carbon Accounting System. Technical Report 18. Tech. rep. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra, Australia, 2000.
Kew_2019_111Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Kew_2019_411Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Oil content data from Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.
Wright_200011I. 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.