Family: Malvaceae

High Risk Traits:

• Thrives in disturbed wetlands and riparian zones
  
• Fast-growing (meters per year)
  
• Prolific seed production; seeds float and are animal-dispersed
  
• Stem cuttings root easily; fragments re-sprout
  
• Tolerates poor, acidic, waterlogged soils
  
• Already naturalized in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Pacific islands
  
• Can form dense, competitor-excluding stands

Low Risk Traits:

• Not a major agricultural weed
  
• Seed harvesting reduces spread
  
• Killed by frost; limited to tropical/subtropical zones
  
• Several years to mature from seed