Swainsona formosa

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Family Fabaceae

Taxonomy: Swainsona formosa (G.Don) Joy Thomps.

Synonyms: 20 (APC 2026-07-30)

Clianthus dampieri A.Cunn. (nomenclatural synonym)
Clianthus dampieri var. flore-albo-rubro-marginato Lem. (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus dampieri var. marginata Dombrain (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus dampieri var. marginata G.Nicholson (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus dampieri var. marginatus Wickham (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus dampieri var. tricolor Anon. (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus dampierii F.Muell. (nomenclatural synonym)
Clianthus formosus (G.Don) Ford & Vickery (nomenclatural synonym)
Clianthus oxleyi A.Cunn. (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus speciosus (G.Don) Asch. & Graebn. (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus speciosus subsp. marginata (Dombrain) Asch. & Graebn. (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus speciosus var. oxleyi (A.Cunn.) Domin (taxonomic synonym)
Clianthus speciosus var. typicus Domin (taxonomic synonym)
Colutea novaehollandiae Ford & Vickery (taxonomic synonym)
Colutea novaehollandiae R.Br. (taxonomic synonym)
Colutea novaehollandiae Walp. (taxonomic synonym)
Donia formosa G.Don (nomenclatural synonym)
Donia speciosa G.Don (taxonomic synonym)
Kennedia speciosa A.Cunn. (taxonomic synonym)
Willdampia formosa (G.Don) A.S.George (nomenclatural synonym)

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: ANBG_2019 (1), Curtis_2012 (14), Draper_2023 (3), Kew_2019_1 (4), Kew_2019_6 (2), Munroe_2019 (1), NHNSW_2014_2 (4), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (11), SAH_2022 (4), SAH_2023 (15), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Sweedman_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (4), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (21), Wright_2000 (1), eFLOWER_Dun_2022 (26). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 77 traits from 129 records in 21 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 (1) [sources: White_2020]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): red_brown (1); white_cream (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; eFLOWER_Dun_2022]
sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 65 mm (40-90 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
fruit_width (numerical): 2.5 mm (2.5-2.5 mm) [sources: SAH_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): legume (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (1) [sources: Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (2) [sources: SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): brown (1) [sources: SAH_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 402.36 mm2 (402.36-402.36 mm2) [sources: Curtis_2012]
leaf_length (numerical): 52.23 mm (10-150 mm) [sources: Curtis_2012; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_width (numerical): 12.08 mm (5-17.24 mm) [sources: Curtis_2012; NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 19.28 mg (19.28-19.28 mg) [sources: Curtis_2012]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 49.11 g/m2 (49.11-49.11 g/m2) [sources: Curtis_2012]
leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.19 g/g (0.19-0.19 g/g) [sources: Curtis_2012]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (2); obovate (2); obtriangular (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (2) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2; SAH_2023]
leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): alternate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; SAH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: Munroe_2019; White_2020]
plant_growth_form (categorical): herb (6) [sources: Curtis_2012; NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; White_2020]
life_history (categorical): annual (5); biennial (1); perennial (1); short_lived_perennial (2) [sources: Curtis_2012; NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): prostrate (4) [sources: NHNSW_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; White_2020]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: White_2020]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): insect (2) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): barochory (1); epizoochory (1); zoochory (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
dispersers (categorical): abiotic (1); animals (1); mammals (1); passive (1) [sources: Draper_2023; White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnyyyyynn (1); nnnyyyyyyyyn (1) [sources: WAH_1998; White_2020]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1) [sources: White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1) [sources: White_2020]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 7 mg (4.33-8.68 mg) [sources: ANBG_2019; Kew_2019_1]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.12 m (0.05-0.2 m) [sources: WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
eFLOWER_Dun_2022	24	26	L. Dun and H. Sauquet. “Unpublished: Floral traits for GAP taxa, University of New South Wales, Australia”. 2022.
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.
SAH_2023	10	15	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/.
Curtis_2012	14	14	E. M. Curtis, A. Leigh, and S. Rayburg. “Relationships among leaf traits of Australian arid zone plants: alternative modes of thermal protection”. Australian Journal of Botany 60.6 (2012), pp. 471-483. doi: 10.1071/bt11284.
NHNSW_2023	6	11	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	4	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
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_2022	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.
Sweedman_2006	2	4	L. Sweedman and D. Merritt. Australian Seeds: A Guide to Their Collection, Identification, and Biology. CSIRO Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780643094079.
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/.
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.
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/.
WAH_2023_2	1	2	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
ANBG_2019	1	1	Australian National Botanic Gardens. The National Seed Bank. 2018. url: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/living/seedbank/.
Munroe_2019	1	1	S. E. M. Munroe, F. A. McInerney, J. Andrae, N. Welti, G. R. Guerin, E. Leitch, T. Hall, S. Szarvas, R. Atkins, S. Caddy-Retalic, and B. Sparrow. “The Photosynthetic Pathways of Plant Species Surveyed in Australia's National Terrestrial Monitoring Network”. Scientific Data 8 (2021), p. 97. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-00877-z.
WAH_1998	1	1	Western Australian Herbarium. FloraBase: The Western Australian flora. 1998. url: http://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.
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.