Rorippa sylvestris (L.) Besser

vernacular creeping yellowcress — species · Brassicaceae

USDA: ROSY
GBIF: 3053376
Rank: species

creeping yellowcress (Rorippa sylvestris) — Platephotograph · Aleksandr EbelCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Brassicaceae Burnett
Genus: Rorippa

§2a

Native status, by region

AK Alaska Introduced
CAN Canada Introduced
GL Greenland Introduced
L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 4 counties across 2 states/territories

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 4 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: None
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: High
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: Medium
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -28 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 110 min.
Precipitation: 14–55 in/yr
pH range: 5–8
Root depth: 11 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Rhizomatous
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 0.7 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Porous
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Indeterminate
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Spring
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 360,000
Propagation: seed, sprigs

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: No Known Source
Nursery stock: No
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 4 counties across 2 states/territories.

Montana view state ↗ 3 I ▾

Rhode Island view state ↗ 1 I ▾

Newport 44005

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ROSY ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3053376 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z