Family: Asparagaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Grows in tropical climates, and potentially able to spread in regions with similar climates
- Naturalized in Africa, Australia, the Madeira Islands and possibly Oahu, Hawaiian Islands (established on Waahila Ridge)
- A potential environmental weed in Australia
- Other Agave species have become invasive
- Potentially toxic to animals, and juice and skin are highly irritant to people
- Shade tolerant
- Tolerates many soil types
- Reported to form dense stands in Australia
- Reproduces by seeds and vegetatively by suckers and offsets
- Seeds dispersed by wind, water and intentionally cultivated by people
- Vegetative fragments spread by water and dumped garden waste
Low Risk Traits:
- No reports of negative impacts despite widespread cultivation in the Hawaiian Island
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs), although spined forms do exist in native range
- Self-incompatible
- Reaches maturity in 5-10 years
- Lack of annual flowering minimizes chance of long-distance dispersal until plants reach maturity
- Herbicides may provide effective control
