Sporobolus natalensis

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Family Poaceae

Taxonomy: Sporobolus natalensis (Steud.) T.Durand & Schinz

Synonyms: 3 (APC 2026-07-30)

Sporobolus capensis var. laxus Nees (taxonomic synonym)
Sporobolus indicus var. laxus (Nees) Stapf (taxonomic synonym)
Vilfa natalensis Steud. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): NT (naturalised), Qld (naturalised), NSW (naturalised)

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ABRS_2022 (4), ABRS_2023 (14), Metcalfe_2020_2 (22), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (6), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 29 traits from 57 records in 8 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_length (numerical): 0.75 mm (0.7-0.8 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Metcalfe_2020_2]
fruit_width (numerical): 0.6 mm (0.6-0.6 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
fruit_height (numerical): 0.4 mm (0.4-0.4 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): caryopsis (4) [sources: ABRS_2023; Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (1); indehiscent (2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): brown (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 675 mm2 (675-675 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
leaf_length (numerical): 375 mm (250-500 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Metcalfe_2020_2]
leaf_width (numerical): 3 mm (2-4 mm) [sources: ABRS_2023; Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023]
leaf_shape (categorical): linear (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
leaf_lamina_posture (categorical): conduplicate (1); flat (1) [sources: ABRS_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: ABRS_2023; NHNSW_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c4 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (2); herb (1); tussock (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
life_form (categorical): hemicryptophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
life_history (categorical): perennial (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (3) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): caespitose (1); erect (2) [sources: ABRS_2022; NHNSW_2022]
root_structure (categorical): non_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): wind (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.21 mg (0.21-0.21 mg) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 1.5 m (1.5-1.5 m) [sources: Metcalfe_2020_2; NHNSW_2023]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Metcalfe_2020_2	19	22	D. Metcalfe. “Unpublished data: Traits of Poaceae spp, CSIRO”. 2020.
ABRS_2023	11	14	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	5	6	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/.
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.
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.
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.