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Rorippa
Also called Water Cress, Yellow Cress, Water Cresses, Yellow Cresses, Yellowcresses
Rorippa is a globally distributed genus in the family Brassicaceae, with species occurring on all continents except for Antarctica. Rorippa species are natively distributed in the Northern Hemisphere through Eurasia and North America, and dispersed into the Southern Hemisphere through long-distance dispersal. Rorippa species are annual to perennial herbs, usually with yellow flowers and a peppery flavour. They are known commonly as yellowcresses.
Most Rorippa species thrive in moist or wet environments like ditches, meadows, waterfronts, and wetlands, highlighting their exceptional tolerance to flooding. This facilitates the dispersal of their seeds or vegetative propagules by floods over short to long ranges. For example, their fruits with seeds can remain viable for up to 60 days while floating in water. The aquatic or marshy habitats of Rorippa often overlap with those of migratory shorebirds, which could potentially carry seeds or fragments over long distances, establishing new populations far from the source. Furthermore, several adaptations, like the mucilage coating or hollows on their seeds, and their ability to self-fertilize and reproduce clonally, might also contribute to their long-distance dispersal.
Great Yellow-cress · Lake Watercress · Austrian yellowcress · Hoary yellowcress · Columbian yellowcress · Bluntleaf yellowcress · Curvepod yellowcress · Rorippa gigantea · Chihuahuan yellowcress · Marsh Yellow-cress · Stalkless yellowcress · Spreading yellowcress
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rorippa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
