Nasturtium gambellii

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Gambel's watercress
Nasturtium gambelii.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Nasturtium
Species:
N. gambellii
Binomial name
Nasturtium gambellii
Synonyms [1]

Nasturtium gambellii (syn. Rorippa gambellii) is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names Gambel's yellowcress and Gambel's watercress. It is known from three [2] or four [3] scattered occurrences in California. It is also native to central Mexico and Guatemala. [4] [5] Its total U.S. population was last estimated at fewer than 300 individuals. [2] It was federally listed in California, as an endangered species of the United States in 1993. [6]

Some sources spell the epithet with a single "l" as "gambelii," others with a double "ll" as "gambellii." Watson, in the original 1876 publication, spelled it with a double "l" and stated that it was named after "Gambell," collector of the type specimen. The collector was in fact William Gambel. [7] Section 60.7 of the ICN states that such errors in the spelling of personal names is to be corrected only in the case of the omission of the final letter of the person's name. This is not what happened here. Watson added an extra letter rather than deleting a letter. Hence Watson's error must stand uncorrected in the scientific epithet, though no such rules apply to the common name. [8]

Nasturtium gambellii is a perennial herb growing decumbent to erect, its branching stems reaching up to 2 meters long. It is aquatic or semi-aquatic, its herbage sometimes floating on standing water or sprawling over wet ground. The leaves are up to 10 centimeters long and each is divided into several pairs of toothed, pointed leaflets. The inflorescence is a raceme of flowers with spoon-shaped white petals each just under a centimeter long. The fruit is a long, narrow, cylindrical silique which may be 3 centimeters long but less than 2 millimeters wide. It contains up to 20 minute seeds, the fruit narrowing between each. The plant reproduces via seed or vegetatively by sprouting from spreading shoots. [2] [5] [7] [9] [10]

This rare plant grows in fresh and brackish water habitat, such as lakesides and marshes. Two of its remaining California occurrences are at Oso Flaco Lake at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes and on coastal land on Vandenberg Air Force Base. [2]

Related Research Articles

Watercress Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

Watercress or yellowcress is a species of aquatic flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. Its botanical name is Nasturtium officinale.

<i>Nasturtium</i> (genus) Genus of flowering plants

Nasturtium is a genus of seven plant species in the family Brassicaceae, best known for the edible watercresses Nasturtium microphyllum and Nasturtium officinale. Nasturtium was previously synonymised with Rorippa, but molecular evidence supports its maintenance as a distinct genus more closely related to Cardamine than to Rorippasensu stricto. Watercress or yellowcress is a common name for plants in this genus.

<i>Rorippa</i>

Rorippa is a flowering plant genus in the family Brassicaceae, native to Europe through central Asia, Africa, and North America. Rorippa species are annual to perennial herbs, usually with yellow flowers and a peppery flavour. They are known commonly as yellowcresses.

<i>Quercus gambelii</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus gambelii, with the common name Gambel oak, is a deciduous small tree or large shrub that is widespread in the foothills and lower mountain elevations of western North America. It is also regionally called scrub oak, oak brush, and white oak.

Gambels quail Species of bird

Gambel's quail is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. It inhabits the desert regions of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Sonora; also New Mexico-border Chihuahua and the Colorado River region of Baja California. The Gambel's quail is named in honor of William Gambel, a 19th-century naturalist and explorer of the Southwestern United States.

<i>Tropaeolum majus</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Tropaeolaceae

Tropaeolum majus, the garden nasturtium, nasturtium, Indian cress or monks cress is a species of flowering plant in the family Tropaeolaceae, originating in the Andes from Bolivia north to Colombia. An easily-grown annual with disc-shaped leaves and brilliant orange or red flowers, it is of cultivated, probably hybrid origin. It is not closely related to the genus Nasturtium.

<i>Ceanothus ferrisiae</i> Species of flowering plant

Ceanothus ferrisiae is a rare species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. Its common name is coyote ceanothus.

Bloomeria clevelandii is a rare species of flowering plant that is known by the common name San Diego goldenstar. It is native to a strip of scrub and coastal grassland in San Diego County, California, and adjacent Baja California. Genetic analysis of several morphologically similar genera shows that this species, which was named Muilla clevelandii for several decades, is not very closely related to the other members of Muilla and is moved back to Bloomeria.

<i>Rorippa palustris</i> Species of plant

Rorippa palustris, marsh yellow cress, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is widespread and native to parts of Africa, and much of Asia, Europe and Eurasia, North America and the Caribbean. It can also be found in other parts of the world as an introduced species and a common weed, for example, in Australia and South America. It is an adaptable plant which grows in many types of damp, wet, and aquatic habitat. It may be an annual, biennial, or perennial plant, and is variable in appearance as well.

<i>Rorippa austriaca</i>

Rorippa austriaca is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Austrian yellow-cress and Austrian fieldcress. It is native to parts of Europe and Asia, and it is known in North America as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed. It can grow in disturbed habitat, such as roadsides, and in very wet habitat such as mudflats. It is a perennial herb growing upright to erect, reaching a maximum height near one meter. The branching stem bears hairless blue-green lance-shaped leaves up to 10 centimeters long. The bases of the upper leaves clasp the stem. The inflorescence is a raceme at the top of the stem and the ends of stem branches. The mustardlike flowers have small yellow petals. The fruit is a plump silique a few millimeters long, but many plants do not fruit and seed production is rare. Reproduction in this species is more often vegetative, the plants concentrating their growth in belowground tissue and spreading clonally. The root system of the plant is particularly aggressive, sending up many new plants as it spreads.

<i>Rorippa columbiae</i>

Rorippa columbiae is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Columbian yellowcress and Columbia yellow cress.

<i>Rorippa curvisiliqua</i>

Rorippa curvisiliqua is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name curvepod yellowcress.

<i>Rorippa sinuata</i>

Rorippa sinuata is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name spreading yellowcress. It is native to North America, including most all of the western and central United States, where it grows in many types of moist and wet habitat, such as lakeshores and riverbanks, meadows, and mudflats. It is a perennial herb producing spreading stems up to 40 or 50 centimeters long. It is densely hairy, the hairs rounded like sacs or vesicles. The leaves are up to 8 centimeters long and have blades are deeply toothed, lobed, or divided into smaller leaflets. The inflorescence is an elongated raceme occupying the top portion of the stem containing many tiny yellow flowers just a few millimeters long. The fruit is a curved silique which is variable in size and shape but generally contains many minute seeds.

<i>Rorippa subumbellata</i>

Rorippa subumbellata is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Lake Tahoe yellowcress and Tahoe yellow cress. It is known only from the shores of Lake Tahoe, straddling the border between California and Nevada. There are an estimated fourteen populations of the plant still in existence. It grows only on the direct shoreline of the lake, occupying a seven-foot semi-aquatic zone between the high- and low-tide marks. It is directly impacted by recreational activities on the lake, enduring bombardment by boat wakes, trampling, and construction of docks and other structures.

<i>Sibara filifolia</i>

Sibara filifolia, the Santa Cruz Island winged rockcress or Santa Cruz Island rockcress, is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is endemic to the Channel Islands of California, where it is now known from a few occurrences on San Clemente Island and one population on Catalina Island.

Tetracoccus ilicifolius is a rare species of flowering shrub in the family Picrodendraceae known by the common names hollybush and holly-leaved tetracoccus.

<i>Cirsium vinaceum</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium vinaceum is a rare species of thistle known by the common name Sacramento Mountains thistle. It is endemic to Otero County, New Mexico, in the United States, where it is known only from the Sacramento Mountains. The plant can be found in six canyon systems in a southern section of this mountain range spanning about 32 kilometers. It is rare because it is limited to a specific type of mountain wetland which is both naturally uncommon and threatened by a number of forces. The plant was federally listed as threatened in 1987.

<i>Erythranthe michiganensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Erythranthe michiganensis is a rare species of flowering plant in the lopseed family, known by the common name Michigan monkeyflower. This species occurs only in the Grand Traverse and Mackinac Straits areas within the American state of Michigan. It is one of only three plant species that are endemic to Michigan, with the other two being Voss's Goldenrod and Packera insulae-regalis.

Chrysothamnus molestus is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Arizona rabbitbrush, Tusayan rabbitbrush, disturbed rabbitbrush, and stickyfruit low rabbitbrush. It is endemic to the State of Arizona in the southwestern United States, where it is known from Coconino, Apache, and Navajo Counties.

Nasturtium floridanum, common names Florida yellowcress and Florida watercress, is an aquatic plant species endemic to Florida, though widely distributed within that state. It is found in wet places at elevations less than 50 m.

References

  1. The Plant List, Nasturtium gambellii
  2. 1 2 3 4 Center for Plant Conservation Archived 2013-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
  3. California Native Plant Society Rare Plant Profile
  4. Flora Mesoamericana: Brassicaceae
  5. 1 2 Flora of North America
  6. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (September 2011). "Rorippa gambellii [Nasturtium gambelii] (Gambel's watercress) 5-Year Review: Summary and Evaluation" (PDF). Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  7. 1 2 Sereno Watson. 1876. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 11: 147, Cardamine gambellii.
  8. McNeill, J.; Barrie, F.R.; Buck, W.R.; Demoulin, V.; Greuter, W.; Hawksworth, D.L.; Herendeen, P.S.; Knapp, S.; Marhold, K.; Prado, J.; Prud'homme Van Reine, W.F.; Smith, G.F.; Wiersema, J.H.; Turland, N.J. (2012). International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code) adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne, Australia, July 2011. Regnum Vegetabile 154. A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG. ISBN   978-3-87429-425-6.
  9. Rollins, Reed Clark & Al-Shehbaz, Ihsan Ali. 1988. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 69(1): 69, Rorippa gambellii
  10. Schulz, Otto Eugen. 1933. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie. Leipzig, 66: 98, Nasturtium gambellii