Invasiveness Assessment - Devil's claw (yellow flower) (Ibicella lutea) in Victoria
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Plant invasiveness is determined by evaluating a plant’s biological and ecological characteristics against criteria that encompass establishment requirements, growth rate and competitive ability, methods of reproduction, and dispersal mechanisms.
| Each characteristic, or criterion, is assessed against a list of intensity ratings. Depending upon information found, a rating of Low, Medium Low, Medium High or High is assigned to that criterion. Where no data is available to answer a criterion, a rating of medium (M) is applied. A description of the invasiveness criteria and intensity ratings used in this process can be viewed here. |
The following table provides information on the invasiveness of Devil's claw (yellow flower).
A more detailed description of the methodology of the Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method can be viewed below:
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (PDF - 630 KB)
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (DOC - 1 MB)
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Common Name: Devil's claw (yellow flower)
Scientific name: Ibicella lutea
| Question | Comments | Reference | Rating |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | Seeds germinate in spring. | P & C (1992) | MH |
| Establishment requirements? | Mainly occurs in ‘open’ habitats e.g. roadsides, river flats and cultivated fallows. | P & C (1992) | ML |
| How much disturbance is required? | Can establish in summer crops, e.g. cotton. | P & C (1992) | MH |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | Erect low-lying annual herbs. Other. | P & C (1992) | L |
| Allelopathic properties? | None described. |  | L |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | “Stock do not graze devil’s claw because of the offensive slimy discharge”. | P & C (1992) | H |
| Normal growth rate? | Completes strongly with summer crops (e.g. cotton). | P & C (1992) | H |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | Tolerant of drought, water logging (occurs on riverflats). | P & C (1992) | ML |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | Reproducing by seed, | P & C (1992) | ML |
| Number of propagules produced? | Bulbous capsule contains numerous seeds. 10 flowers x 100 seeds per capsule = 1,000 seeds per plant. | P & C (1992) | M |
| Propagule longevity? | ? | | M |
| Reproductive period? | Annual – only produces propagules 1 year. | P & C (1992) | L |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | Annual – germinates in spring and flowers in summer. | P & C (1992) | H |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | “With its hooked claws, the fruit readily attaches to almost anything”, particularly sheep. | P & C (1992) | MH |
| How far do they disperse? | As seed ‘readily attaches to almost anything’, likely to spread > 200 m. | P & C (1992) | MH |
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