AusTraits

Vitex lignum-vitae

Explore the data for this taxon in the portal

Family Lamiaceae

Taxonomy: Vitex lignum-vitae A.Cunn. ex Schauer

Synonyms: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)
  • Premna lignum-vitae (A.Cunn. ex Schauer) W.Piep. (nomenclatural synonym)

Distribution (APC): Qld, NSW

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

Traits

Top source datasets: Butler_2004 (5), Cooper_2013 (15), Gross_2005 (4), Ilic_2000 (3), Kooyman_2011 (14), McCarthy_2017 (4), NHNSW_2014_2 (2), NHNSW_2022 (3), NHNSW_2023 (20), RadfordSmith_2024 (41), Sjostrom_2006 (4), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 42 traits from 118 records in 13 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
  • flower_colour (categorical): blue_purple (1); pink (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
  • sex_type (categorical): hermaphrodite (2) [sources: Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit morphology
  • fruit_length (numerical): 11.5 mm (5-18 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013]
  • fruit_width (numerical): 12 mm (5-20 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_height (numerical): 11.5 mm (8-15 mm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • fruit_type (categorical): drupe (5) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; NHNSW_2023; RadfordSmith_2024; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_fleshiness (categorical): fleshy (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_dehiscence (categorical): indehiscent (3) [sources: Cooper_2013; Gross_2005; Sjostrom_2006]
  • fruit_colour (categorical): pink (1); purple (1); red (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
leaf morphology
  • leaf_area (numerical): 3019.4 mm2 (656.77-4731.93 mm2) [sources: McCarthy_2017; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • leaf_length (numerical): 77.5 mm (50-110 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_width (numerical): 32.5 mm (20-45 mm) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 123.51 mg (64.4-201.35 mg) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024]
  • petiole_length (numerical): 1.25 cm (0.5-2 cm) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 91.36 g/m2 (87.45-102.61 g/m2) [sources: McCarthy_2017; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • leaf_dry_matter_content (numerical): 0.5 g/g (0.44-0.59 g/g) [sources: RadfordSmith_2024]
  • leaf_shape (categorical): elliptical (1); oblong (1); obovate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_base_shape (categorical): attenuate (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_lobation (categorical): unlobed (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011]
  • leaf_compoundness (categorical): compound (1); simple (1) [sources: Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]
  • leaf_phyllotaxis (categorical): opposite (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
  • plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (1) [sources: NHNSW_2023]
life history
  • plant_growth_form (categorical): tree (5) [sources: Butler_2004; Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • life_history (categorical): perennial (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2023]
  • woodiness_detailed (categorical): woody (2) [sources: NHNSW_2022; Wenk_2022]
  • leaf_phenology (categorical): evergreen (2) [sources: Kooyman_2011; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • dispersal_syndrome (categorical): endozoochory (2) [sources: Butler_2004; RadfordSmith_2024]
  • dispersers (categorical): birds (1); vertebrates (1) [sources: Butler_2004; Cooper_2013]
  • flowering_time (categorical): nnnynnnnnnnn (1); yyyyyynnnyyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2014_2]
seed morphology
  • seed_length (numerical): 10 mm (4-16 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011]
  • seed_width (numerical): 5.25 mm (3-12 mm) [sources: Butler_2004; Kooyman_2011]
stem morphology
  • wood_density (numerical): 0.75 mg/mm3 (0.69-0.77 mg/mm3) [sources: Ilic_2000; Kooyman_2011; RadfordSmith_2024]
whole plant morphology
  • plant_height (numerical): 25.67 m (4-30 m) [sources: Cooper_2013; Kooyman_2011; NHNSW_2023]

Sources

dataset_idn_traitsn_recordsreference
RadfordSmith_20241541J. Radford-Smith, H. R. Lai, E. C. Weeren, and J. M. Dwyer. “A Functional Basis for the Assembly of Australian Subtropical Rainforest Tree Communities”. Ecology Letters 27.11 (2024). ISSN: 1461-0248. doi: 10.1111/ele.70014.
NHNSW_20231420N. 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/.
Cooper_20131215W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
Kooyman_20111014R. 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.
Butler_200455D. W. Butler, R. J. Green, D. Lamb, W. J. F. Mcdonald, and P. I. Forster. “Biogeography of seed-dispersal syndromes, life-forms and seed sizes among woody rain-forest plants in Australia's subtropics”. Journal of Biogeography 34.10 (2007), pp. 1736-1750. ISSN: 1365-2699. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01734.x.
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.
McCarthy_201724J. K. McCarthy, J. M. Dwyer, and K. Mokany. “A regional-scale assessment of using metabolic scaling theory to predict ecosystem properties”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286.1915 (2019), p. 20192221. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2221.
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.
Ilic_200013J. 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.
NHNSW_202233N. 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/.
NHNSW_2014_222Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
Wenk_202222E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Wenk_202311E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.