Timonius timon

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Family Rubiaceae

Taxonomy: Timonius timon (Spreng.) Merr.

Synonyms: 7 (APC 2026-07-30)

Erithalis timon Spreng. (nomenclatural synonym)
Guettarda polyphragmoides F.Muell. (taxonomic synonym)
Polyphragmon sericeum Desf. (taxonomic synonym)
Swizzlestickia rawsoniensis H.Finch-Hatton (taxonomic synonym)
Timonius rumphii DC. (taxonomic synonym)
Timonius sericeus (Desf.) K.Schum. (taxonomic synonym)
Timonius timon (Spreng.) Merr. var. timon (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): WA, NT, Qld

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

Traits

Top source datasets: ATRP_2020 (1), Apgaua_2017 (12), Brock_1993 (12), Cooper_2013 (11), Crowley_2007 (2), Gross_2005 (4), Grubb_1996 (3), Ilic_2000 (2), Kew_2019_1 (1), Kooyman_2011 (12), Metcalfe_2009 (17), Nano_2011 (2), RussellSmith_2012 (4), Sjostrom_2006 (4), WAH_1998 (1), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), Westoby_2014 (33), Wright_2000 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 73 traits from 130 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): resprouts (4) [sources: Crowley_2007; Metcalfe_2009; Nano_2011; RussellSmith_2012]

flower morphology

sex_type (categorical): dioecious (2) [sources: Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 14.5 mm (9-20 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
fruit_width (numerical): 14 mm (8-20 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
fruit_type (categorical): berry (1); drupe (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (4) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Metcalfe_2009; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 4610 mm2 (2740-6480 mm2) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; Westoby_2014]
leaf_length (numerical): 90 mm (55-180 mm) [sources: Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011]
leaf_width (numerical): 35.5 mm (15-60 mm) [sources: Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 84.9 g/m2 (84.9-84.9 g/m2) [sources: Westoby_2014]
leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1) [sources: Brock_1993]
leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (2) [sources: Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
plant_growth_form (categorical): shrub (3); tree (8) [sources: ATRP_2020; Apgaua_2017; Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; Grubb_1996; Kooyman_2011; Metcalfe_2009; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
life_form (categorical): phanerophyte (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
life_history (categorical): perennial (4) [sources: Brock_1993; Metcalfe_2009; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (2) [sources: Brock_1993; Kooyman_2011]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
root_structure (categorical): mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): fly (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (1); zoochory (1) [sources: Grubb_1996; Metcalfe_2009]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnyyyyyyyn (2); ynnnyyyyyyyy (1) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; WAH_1998]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): persistent (1); transient (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009; RussellSmith_2012]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): non_clonal (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]
bud_bank_location (categorical): basal_stem_buds (2); epicormic_buds (2) [sources: Crowley_2007; Nano_2011]

nutrient and stable isotope

leaf_N_per_dry_mass (numerical): 15.65 mg/g (15.65-15.65 mg/g) [sources: Westoby_2014]
leaf_P_per_dry_mass (numerical): 0.95 mg/g (0.95-0.95 mg/g) [sources: Westoby_2014]
leaf_delta13C (numerical): -29.12 {delta}[ppth] (-29.59--28.65 {delta}[ppth]) [sources: Apgaua_2017; Westoby_2014]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 1.31 mg (1.02-1.6 mg) [sources: Grubb_1996; Kew_2019_1]
seed_length (numerical): 3.5 mm (3-4 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
seed_width (numerical): 1 mm (1-1 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011]

stem morphology

wood_density (numerical): 0.52 mg/mm3 (0.43-0.55 mg/mm3) [sources: Apgaua_2017; Ilic_2000; Kooyman_2011; Metcalfe_2009; Westoby_2014]
huber_value (numerical): 0 mm2{sapwood}/mm2{leaf} (0-0 mm2{sapwood}/mm2{leaf}) [sources: Westoby_2014]
stem_vessel_density (numerical): 21.2 {count}/mm2 (21.2-21.2 {count}/mm2) [sources: Apgaua_2017]
stem_vessel_diameter (numerical): 77.24 um (77.24-77.24 um) [sources: Apgaua_2017]
stem_vessel_lumen_fraction (numerical): 0.1 mm2/mm2 (0.1-0.1 mm2/mm2) [sources: Apgaua_2017]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 12.75 m (1.5-20 m) [sources: Brock_1993; Cooper_2013; WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: Metcalfe_2009]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
Westoby_2014	31	33	S. M. Gleason, D. W. Butler, K. Zieminska, P. Waryszak, and M. Westoby. “Stem xylem conductivity is key to plant water balance across Australian angiosperm species”. Functional Ecology 26 (2012), pp. 343-352. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.01962.x.
Metcalfe_2009	17	17	E. Laliberte, J. A. Wells, F. DeClerck, D. J. Metcalfe, C. P. Catterall, C. Queiroz, I. Aubin, S. P. Bonser, Y. Ding, J. M. Fraterrigo, S. McNamara, J. W. Morgan, D. S. Merlos, P. A. Vesk, and M. M. Mayfield. “Land-use intensification reduces functional redundancy and response diversity in plant communities”. Ecology Letters 13.1 (2010), pp. 76-86. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01403.x.
Apgaua_2017	11	12	D. M. G. Apgaua, D. Y. P. Tng, L. A. Cernusak, A. W. Cheesman, R. M. Santos, W. J. Edwards, and S. G. W. Laurance. “Plant functional groups within a tropical forest exhibit different wood functional anatomy”. Functional Ecology 31.3 (2017), pp. 582-591. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.12787.
Brock_1993	9	12	J. Brock and A. Dunlop. Native plants of northern Australia. Reed New Holland, 1993. ISBN: 9781877069246.
Kooyman_2011	9	12	R. 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.
Cooper_2013	9	11	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Gross_2005	4	4	C. 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_2012	4	4	J. 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_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.
Grubb_1996	3	3	P. 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.
WAH_2022_2	3	3	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Crowley_2007	2	2	G. Crowley, M. Gardener, and M. Marrinan. Tropical savannas fire response database. 2007. url: [www.landmanager.org.au](www.landmanager.org.au).
Ilic_2000	1	2	J. 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.
Nano_2011	2	2	C. 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.
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.
ATRP_2020	1	1	F. A. Zich, B. P. Hyland, T. Whiffin, and R. A. Kerrigan. Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, Edition 8. 2020. url: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/intro/index.html.
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.
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.