Upright Yellow Sorrel (Oxalis stricta)
Present distribution
|  This weed is not known to be naturalised in Victoria | ||||
| Habitat: Native to Eastern Asia and North America. Reported in pasture, woodland and a weed of cultivation. | |||||
Potential distribution
Potential distribution produced from CLIMATE modelling refined by applying suitable landuse and vegetation type overlays with CMA boundaries
| Map Overlays Used Land Use: Broadacre cropping; horticulture; pasture dryland; pasture irrigation Broad vegetation types Coastal scrubs and grassland; coastal grassy woodland; inland slopes and plains; sedge rich woodland; montane dry woodland; sub-alpine woodland; grassland; plains grassy woodland; herb-rich woodland; sub-alpine grassy woodland; montane grassy woodland; riverine grassy woodland; rainshadow woodland; mallee; boinka-raak; mallee woodland; wimmera / mallee woodland Colours indicate possibility of Oxalis stricta infesting these areas. In the non-coloured areas the plant is unlikely to establish as the climate, soil or landuse is not presently suitable. | 
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Impact
QUESTION | COMMENTS | RATING | CONFIDENCE |
| Social |  | | |
| 1. Restrict human access? | Perennial forb | l | m |
| 2. Reduce tourism? | Perennial forb, not restrict movement or cause any significant aesthetic impact. | l | m |
| 3. Injurious to people? | sour taste but no toxins or spines etc. | l | m |
| 4. Damage to cultural sites? | small plant, no invasive root system reported. | l | m |
| Abiotic | | | |
| 5. Impact flow? | Terrestrial species | l | m |
| 6. Impact water quality? | Terrestrial species | l | m |
| 7. Increase soil erosion? | Has root system comprised of many rhizomes, and not reported to by itself change composition of vegetation so shouldn't have significant impact on erosion of the site. | l | m |
| 8. Reduce biomass? | Direct replacement, it appears to become a significant part of the vegetation after the biomass has been decreased by other means eg. Fire or grazing (Harnett, Hickman and Fischer 1996). | ml | mh |
| 9. Change fire regime? | Not impacted itself by a change in fire regime not however a driving force in the change (Abrams 1988). | l | mh |
| Community Habitat | | | |
| 10. Impact on composition (a) high value EVC | EVC= Plains Grassland (E); CMA= Wimmera; Bioreg= Lowan Mallee; M CLIMATE potential. Competitive in the grass/herb layer. Major displacement of species. | mh | m |
| (b) medium value EVC | EVC= Riverine Chenopod Woodland (D); CMA= Wimmera; Bioreg= Lowan Mallee; M CLIMATE potential. Competitive in the grass/herb layer. Major displacement of species. | mh | m |
| (c) low value EVC | EVC= Loamy Sands Mallee (LC); CMA= Wimmera; Bioreg= Lowan Mallee; M CLIMATE potential. Competitive in the grass/herb layer. Major displacement of species. | mh | m |
| 11. Impact on structure? | In native systems not shown to be overly dominant however can successfully compete under certain conditions replacing either more palatable or fire sensitive species (Harnett, Hickman and Fischer 1996). | l | mh |
| 12. Effect on threatened flora? | No impact reported however it by itself will not be the driving force for the reduction more likely be the species to fill in any gaps another force has left behind (Abrams 1988). In native systems not shown to be overly dominant however can successfully compete under certain conditions replacing either more palatable or fire sensitive species (Harnett, Hickman and Fischer 1996). | ml | m |
| Fauna | | | |
| 13. Effect on threatened fauna? | None reported may replace more palatable species leading to a reduction in food (Harnett, Hickman and Fischer 1996). | mh | l |
| 14. Effect on non-threatened fauna? | May replace more palatable species leading to a reduction in food (Harnett, Hickman and Fischer 1996). | ml | m |
| 15. Benefits fauna? | Reported as an undesirable species for consumption due to its sour taste (Marshall 1987). | h | h |
| 16. Injurious to fauna? | No toxicity or spines etc reported. | l | m |
| Pest Animal | | | |
| 17. Food source to pests? | Reported as an undesirable species for consumption due to its sour taste (Marshall 1987). | l | mh |
| 18. Provides harbor? | Perennial forb. | l | m |
| Agriculture | | | |
| 19. Impact yield? | Reported as an undesirable species for consumption due to its sour taste, therefore its competition with pasture species reduces the overall fodder (Marshall 1987). | ml | mh |
| 20. Impact quality? | In extreme cases if left uncontrolled can cause the crop to lose its financial value (Marshall 1987). | m | mh |
| 21. Affect land value? | Can be controlled not likely to significantly reduce productivity of land. | l | l |
| 22. Change land use? | Can be controlled in some crops better than others (Marshall 1987). | l | m |
| 23. Increase harvest costs? | Control required in some cases may increase expenses (Marshall 1987). | m | ml |
| 24. Disease host/vector? | A host to curly-top a disease of sugar-beet (Starrett 1929). | mh | mh |
Invasive
QUESTION | COMMENTS | RATING | CONFIDENCE |
| Establishment | | | |
| 1. Germination requirements? | Depending on the severity of the weather, O. stricta over-winters by means of rhizomes and/or seeds, germinating or regrowing in spring (Marshall 1987). | mh | h |
| 2. Establishment requirements? | Known to woodland edges therefore able to establish under some canopy (Marshall 1987). | m | h |
| 3. How much disturbance is required? | Known to grassland, woodland edges, cultivation and lawns (Marshall 1987). | mh | h |
| Growth/Competitive | | | |
| 4. Life form? | Perennial forb (other) (Marshall 1987). | l | mh |
| 5. Allelopathic properties? | None described | l | m |
| 6. Tolerates herb pressure? | Sour taste means it is preferentially not grazed, been to out compete species in grazed pasture (Harnett, Hickman and Fischer 1996). | h | mh |
| 7. Normal growth rate? | No specific data however its increased abundance in response to preferentially not being grazed suggests an equal to slower growth rate of other species of a tallgrass prairie (Harnett, Hickman and Fischer 1996). | mh | ml |
| 8. Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | Over winters as rhizomes or seeds (Frost tolerant) (Marshall 1987). No significant change in the presents of O. stricta after a range of fire regimes (Abrams 1988 and Harnett, Hickman and Fischer 1996). (tolerant of fire) tolerates wide range of soil types… sunny and drought prone (Uva, Neal and DiTomaso 1997). | h | h |
| Reproduction | | | |
| 9. Reproductive system | Vegetatively by rhizomes, Sexually by seeds (Marshall 1987). | h | h |
| 10. Number of propagules produced? | not specifically identified | m | l |
| 11. Propagule longevity? | Not specifically identified | m | l |
| 12. Reproductive period? | Not specifically identified apparent persistent vegetative regrowth. | h | l |
| 13. Time to reproductive maturity? | In areas of severe winters, viewed as an annual (Marshall 1987). | h | h |
| Dispersal | | | |
| 14. Number of mechanisms? | Seeds forcibly ejected from pods (Marshall 1987). | l | m |
| 15. How far do they disperse? | Seeds ejected travel over 2m (Marshall 1987) | ml | h |
References
Abrams. M.D. (1988) Effects of burning regime on buried seed banks and canopy coverage in a Kansas tallgrass prairie. Southwestern Naturalist. 33: 1, 65-70
Harnett. D.C., Hickman. K.R. and Fischer. W.L.E. (1996) Effects of bison grazing, fire, and topography on floristic diversity in tallgrass prairie. Journal of Range Management. 49: 5, 413-420.
Marshall. G. (1987) A review of the biology and control of selected weed species in the genus Oxalis: O.stricta L., O. latifolia H.B.K. and O.pes-caprae L. Crop Protection. 6: 355-364
Starrett. R.C. (1929) A new host of Sugar-beet Curly-top. Phytopathology. 19: 11, 1031-1035.
Uva. R.H., Neal. J.C. and DiTomaso. J.M. (1997) Weeds of the Northeast. Cornell University Press, USA.
Global present distribution data references
Australian National Herbarium (ANH) 2006, Australia’s Virtual Herbarium, Australian National Herbarium, Centre for Plant Diversity and Research, viewed Aug 29 2006, http://www.anbg.gov.au/avh/
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) 2006, Global biodiversity information facility: Prototype data portal, viewed Aug 29 2006, http://www.gbif.org/
Missouri Botanical Gardens (MBG) 2006, w3TROPICOS, Missouri Botanical Gardens Database, viewed Aug 29 2006, http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/vast.html
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