Paraserianthes lophantha (syn. Albizia lophantha), the Cape Leeuwin wattle, Cape wattle, crested wattle or plume albizia, is a fast-growing wattle with creamy-yellow, bottlebrush like flowers. It is a small tree (uppermost height approximately 5 metres) that occurs naturally along the southwest coast of Western Australia, from Fremantle to King George Sound. It was first spread beyond southwest Australia by Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, who gave packets of P. lophantha seeds to early explorers under the assumption that if they planted the seeds at their campsites, the trees would indicate the routes they travelled. It is considered a weed in the parts of Australia where it is not indigenous, as well as in New Zealand, South Africa, the Canary Islands, and Chile.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: tree · AusTraits: shrub tree · TRY: T
Habitat GIFTLowland
Leaf compoundnesscompound
Leaf formlinear
Leaf shapeoblong
Woodinesswoody
Physiology & chemistry4
Leaf n33.14 mg/g
Nitrogen fixingnitrogen_fixer
Photosynthetic pathwayC3
Specific leaf area (SLA)11.81 mm²/mg
Other traits1
Seeds per fruit>1000
05DNA & barcoding16 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Paraserianthes lophantha has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens16
Marker genes5
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections12
Countries3
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK9★rbcL★rbcLa★ITS1★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualParaserianthes lophantha carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin13.7 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type5 432 records
Wild obs. + sensor4 836
Museum / vouchered421
Cultivated / captive134
Other41
Origin
Native85
Introduced241
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO9 432 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy92% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 990≤1 km 458≤10 km 228>10 km 57
3 733 georeferenced · 1 103 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor4 836
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy60% within 1 km
≤100 m 42≤1 km 74≤10 km 68>10 km 10
194 georeferenced · 227 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence421
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy
no georeferenced coordinates · 134 records without
Open the mapnot free-living134
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions31 of 59 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Adelaide, AU
81
Auckland, NZ
76
Museo Entomologico de Leonlocation not on record
31
Kensington, AU
23
Christchurch, NZ
20
Rotorua, NZ
17
Wellington, NZ
15
Saint Louis, US
11
Mount Annan, AU
10
Bronx, US
9
BIO-UNIPIlocation not on record
8
Canberra, AU
7
BClocation not on record
7
BDBClocation not on record
7
València, ES
6
Loja, EC
5
Jardín Botánico José Celestino Mutis (JBBJCM)location not on record
5
Davis, US
5
QCNElocation not on record
5
Stellenbosch University, DST- NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biologylocation not on record
4
Kew, GB
4
Chicago, US
4
LDlocation not on record
4
BGPAlocation not on record
3
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
3
MAlocation not on record
2
CJBGlocation not on record
2
Armidale, AU
2
Universidad de Caldas (UCaldas)location not on record
2
Entomological Society of Latvialocation not on record
2
Phyletisches Museum Jenalocation not on record
2
Valparaiso, CL
2
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ)location not on record
2
Barcelona, ES
1
QVMAGlocation not on record
1
Los Angeles, US
1
UTPLlocation not on record
1
arosemena tola, EC
1
Wollongong, AU
1
John T. Waterhouse Herbariumlocation not on record
1
Riobamba, EC
1
Bern, CH
1
Herbario de la Universidad Técnica del Nortelocation not on record
1
La Paz, BO
1
Quito, EC
1
Hobart, AU
1
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
1
Xiamen, CN
1
San Diego Natural History Museum, Herbariumlocation not on record
1
Pretoria, ZA
1
Jena Microbial Resource Collectionlocation not on record
1
San Angelo, US
1
Qlocation not on record
1
Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)location not on record
1
Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL)location not on record
1
Porto Alegre, BR
1
La Trobe Universitylocation not on record
1
Aarhus, DK
1
Universidad de La Salle (La Salle)location not on record
1
59 institutions · 412 of 421 vouchered records shown · 7 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA12 detections
Where the DNA of Paraserianthes lophantha was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found12
Studies independent surveys1
Countries3
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 12 detections have coordinates
Open the map3 countries0
Coastal saltmarsh, dry flats near marsh and …
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median15.4 °C 14.1–16.6
Seasonal swing summer↔winter8.70 °C
Max temp (day)19.0 °C 18.0–21.2
Min temp (night)10.4 °C 9.20–14.6
Precipitation70.4 mm/mo 31.1–99.6
Air humidity58.9 % 57.2–62.6
Moisture balance-45.4 mm/mo
Vapour deficit707 Pa 634–806
Wind speed3.40 m/s
Cloud cover18.9 % 14.0–41.2
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 7 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation8 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility5 432 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI12 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics16 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗