Rorippa amphibia
Common names
tall yellow cress, marsh yellow cress
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Simplified description
Tall herb, up to 1 m tall, with various shaped leaves, the lowest being deeply lobed, the uppermost with no lobes, but all with toothed margins, flowers are bright-yellow c. 6 mm across in large flower heads at the top of the stem.
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
Perennial rhizomatous herb. Stems erect, glabrous or finely hairy, 30-80 cm tall. Lvs ± glabrous, variable in shape, spathulate- oblanceolate, cuneate; margins toothed. Lower lvs petiolate, auriculate at base, deeply pinnatifid with lobes becoming shallower toward apex, 8-16 × 2-6-(7) cm. Upper lvs smaller, pinnatifid or toothed, sometimes linear; auricles becoming 0. Pedicels glabrous, erecto-patent to patent, sometimes deflexed at fruiting, (5)-7-10-(12) mm long. Sepals 2-3 × 1 mm. Petals bright yellow, 3-6 mm long. Silicle glabrous, elliptic to ovoid, 1.5-3-(4) × 0.6-1-(2) mm, but often not or poorly developed; valves veinless; style 1 mm long. Seeds reddish brown, c. 1 mm long, finely colliculate, in 2 rows per locule. As this plant is self-sterile many populations do not produce seed in New Zealand.
Similar taxa
Similar to the introduced creeping yellow cress (R. sylvestris) and the native poniu (R. palustris) but much taller, petals being > 2x length of the petals (unlike poniu) and fruit being oval rather than sausage shaped with peduncles > 2x the length of the fruit (unlike creeping yellow cress).
Distribution
Very local Northland to Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
Habitat
Swamps, margins of water bodies and cultivation weed in wet areas.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ecology
Flowering
November to February
Fruiting
November to February
Year naturalised
1870
Origin
Temperate Eurasia and North Africa
Reason for introduction
Unknown, seed or soil contaminant
Control techniques
Can be controlled manually, mechanically or herbicidally depending on situation.
Life cycle and dispersal
Seed and rhizomes dispersed by water or contaminated machinery.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FACW: Facultative Wetland
Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).
Other information
Etymology
rorippa: A latinized form of Rorippen, a Saxon vernacular name used by Euricius Cordus
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
RORAMP
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. (1988). Flora of New Zealand Volume 4: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch.
Johnson PN, Brooke PA (1989). Wetland plants in New Zealand. DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington. 319pp.
Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G.; Warburg, E.F. (1962). Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, Second Edition. 1269pp.
Attribution
Factsheet prepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA). Features description from Webb et al. (1988).
Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.