Invasiveness Assessment - Yellow soldier (Lachenalia reflexa) in Victoria
Back | Table | Feedback
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 Yellow soldier.
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)
To view the information PDF requires the use of a PDF reader. This can be installed for free from the Adobe website (external link).
Common Name: Yellow soldier
Scientific name: Lachenalia reflexa
| Question | Comments | Rating | Confidence |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | ‘Often germinate in response to fire’ (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). Germinates during spring (CRC for Australian Weed management 2003). Requires natural seasonal conditions | MH | M |
| Establishment requirements? | Plants take advantage of bare ground (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). Can be in a sun or semi-shady position (Hitchmough 1992) but shows preference for full-sun. | ML | M |
| How much disturbance is required? | ‘It invades banksia/ tuart woodlands and limestone scrub and heath’ ‘The infestation in the Shenton bushland has shown that yellow soldier does not need disturbance to establish (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). | H | M |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | Stores food in bulbs (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). Geophyte. | ML | M |
| Allelopathic properties? | None described in CRC for Australian Weed management 2003. | L | M |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | ‘Lachenalia are easy, trouble-free bulbs. The only pests .. likely to be encountered are aphids, which may cause puckering of the leaves’ (Hitchmough 1992). Consumed but recovers quickly. | MH | M |
| Normal growth rate? | Plant takes advantage of open spaces but no information to suggest that its growth rate would exceed other species of same life form. Score as medium. | M | L |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | ‘In its native range .. it occurs in areas with winter rainfall, undergoing long dormant periods over the dry summers’ (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). ‘Fire does not appear to kill bulbs as plants flower prolifically the first season following fire (Brown et al 2002). Found on sandy calcareous soils – assume some level of tolerance to salinity. May be susceptible to frost. | MH | H |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | ‘Spreads mainly by seed’ (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003), but can also reproduce vegetatively through bulbs. | H | M |
| Number of propagules produced? | ‘.. usually between one and ten flowers per plant and each flower produces a capsule that contains 40-60 seeds’ (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). Plant would produce maximum of 600 propagules. | ML | M |
| Propagule longevity? | ‘The seed does not appear to remain viable for more than two or three years’ (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). | L | M |
| Reproductive period? | ‘.. flowering-sized bulbs can be produced by the second or third year’ (Hitchmough 1992). Not sufficient information to determine whether plant produces viable propagules for greater than 10 years. | MH | M |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | ‘Single annually renewed bulb’ (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). Germinates in spring and flowers in following winter or early spring. | H | M |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | ‘Water movement and human activity are the main causes of seed spread’ (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). | MH | M |
| How far do they disperse? | ‘Experience in the Shenton bushland .. suggests that seed is not easily spread over long distances ’ (CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003). Very unlikely to disperse greater than 200 m. | L | M |
Feedback
Do you have additional information about this plant that will improve the quality of the assessment?
If so, we would value your contribution. Click on the link to go to the feedback form.
© State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria) 1996 - .
This work, Victorian Resources Online, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria (Agriculture Victoria) as author, indicate if changes were made and comply with the other licence terms.
The licence does not apply to ‘branding’ or some ‘images or photographs’ that may be owned by third parties. We ask you to seek prior approval to use images using the VRO feedback form. Access to higher quality images can also be provided on request.
This page was last updated on .