Plants of
South Australia
Rorippa laciniata
Brassicaceae
Jagged Bitter-cress,
Perennial Marsh Cress
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Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.
Least concern
Near threatened
Rare
Vulnerable
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Extinct
Data deficient
Adelaide
Arkaroola
Ceduna
Coober Pedy
Hawker
Innamincka
Marla
Marree
Mount Gambier
Oodnadatta
Renmark
Wudinna
Keith
Yunta
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Botanical art

Kath Alcock painting: 1

Prior names

Nasturtium laciniatum

Cardamine laciniata

Common names

Jagged Bitter-cress

Perennial Marsh Cress

Etymology

Rorippa possible from the Latinised form of 'Rorippen', a Saxon vernacular name used by Euricius Cordus or from the Latin 'roro' meaning to be moist and 'ripa' meaning riverbank; referring to the genus habitat in moist places. Laciniata from the Latin 'lacinia' meaning divided into narrow or slender lobes; referring to the leaves.

Distribution and status

Found in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges and along the Murray River in South Australia, growing in moist to wet habitats. Also found in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Native. Rare in South Australia. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Murray, Southern Lofty, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Plant description

Perennial herb to 40 cm high, ascending to erect. Leaves mostly basal, petiolate, usually linear-lanceolate, pinnately lobed, or toothed or entire, to 10 cm long, with scattered, short marginal hairs, stem leaves few and narrow. Inflorescence terminal cluster with white flowers. Flowers throughout the year. Fruits are long brown pod to 45 mm long and 2 mm wide, style to 2 mm long. Seeds are brown flat oblong seeds to 1.5 mm long and 1 mm wide. Seed embryo type is bent.

Seed collection and propagation

Collect seeds between January and May. Collect maturing pods those turning pale brown with orange seeds inside. Be gentle with the pods as they split open easily. Place the pods in a tray and cover with paper to prevent seeds from popping out and leave to dry for a week. Then rub the dried pods gently by hand to dislodge the seeds. Use a sieve to separate the unwanted material. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place. From three collections, the seed viability were high, ranging from 80% to 100%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA2,870 (0.37 g)50+18-Feb-2009DJD1501
Southern Lofty
20-Jul-200980%-18°C
BGA 
MSB
6,500 (1.65 g)
8,000 (2.05 g)
2012-Mar-2010TST920
Southern Lofty
1-Jun-2010100%-18°C
BGA19,500 (4.08 g)50+2-Jan-2015DJD3093
Southern Lofty
1-Jan-201665%-18°C
BGA5,400 (1.42 g)50+16-May-2016DJD3324
Southern Lofty
2-May-201790%+5°C, -18°C, -80°C
BGA6,700 (1.480 g)20+4-Mar-2021DJD4014
Southern Lofty
28-Jun-202195%-18°C, -80°C
BGA10,700 (1.896 g)20+4-Jan-2022TST1488
Southern Lofty
7-Jul-202250%-18°C
BGA1,620 (0.350 g)30+2-Feb-2022DJD4101
Southern Lofty
7-Jul-202295%-18°C
BGA8,650 (2.288 g)50+8-Mar-2023BKB226
Southern Lofty
20-Jun-2023100%-18°C, -80°C
Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.
Germination table:
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