Diplotaxis muralis (L.) Scop., Brassicaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: sand rocket, stinkweed, wall rocket

French: diplotaxis des murailles, roquette des murailles

Spanish: jaramago armarillo, mostacilla

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual or biennial herb usually with several ascending flowering stems up to 40 cm, with a few scattered hairs at base of stem or on petioles.  Leaves mostly confined to a basal rosette, lyrate-pinnatifid, long-petiolate.  Upper leaves, if present, oblong, more or less sessile.  Petals 6-7 x 3.5-4 mm, pale yellow fading brownish, obovate.  Fruiting pedicels 6-13 mm, erect-spreading.  Fruit 24-45 x 1.5-2 mm, including a beak 1.5-3 mm, torulose; stigma same width as or a little broader than beak."  (Davis, 1965)

Habitat/ecology:  "Fields and waste places near sea level" (Davis, 1965; pp. 268-269). In New Caledonia, "mauvaise herbe peu récoltée" (MacKee, 1994; p. 44).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Central and southern Europe, Crimea, northwest Africa" (Davis, 1965; pp. 268-269).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	Tassin, Jacques (2005)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 44) Voucher cited: MacKee 39517

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)		Hafliger, Toni J./Wolf, Matthias (1988) (p. 167)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)		Hafliger, Toni J./Wolf, Matthias (1988) (p. 167)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)		Hafliger, Toni J./Wolf, Matthias (1988) (p. 167)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 421) "Waste land, gardens, railway ballast, roadsides, sand dunes".

Additional information:
Additional online information about Diplotaxis muralis is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Diplotaxis muralis as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Diplotaxis muralis may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Davis, P. H./Mill, R. R./Tan, Kit, eds. 1965. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands. Edinburgh, University Press. 1965-1988, 10 vols.

Hafliger, Toni J./Wolf, Matthias. 1988. Dicot weeds, vol. 1. CIBA-GEIGY Ltd., Basle, Switzerland. 335 pp.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

Tassin, Jacques. 2005. Jacques Tassin (IAC-CIRAD), personal communication.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.