Family: Zingiberaceae

High Risk Traits:

• Thrives in tropical climates
  
• Naturalized in La Reunion, Tanzania, and the Seychelles, but no evidence in the Hawaiian Islands to date
  
• A possible environmental weed in La Reunion (spreading in natural or semi-natural ecosystems with a relatively high density)
  
• Shade tolerant (could spread in forest understory)
  
• Reproduces by seeds and vegetatively by rhizomes
  
• Self-compatible (but with lower seed set)
  
• Seeds dispersed by animals, and intentionally by people

Low Risk Traits:

• Generally regarded as a high value spice crop
  
• Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
  
• Reaches maturity in 5+ years
  
• Fruit and seeds are the valued crop, and unlikely to be accidentally dispersed
  
• Seeds lose viability rapidly (no formation of seed bank)