Family: Araucariaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Elevation range exceeds 1000 m, demonstrating environmental versatility
- Grows in tropical climates
- Possibly naturalized in Ecuador (unconfirmed)
- Cone covered with sharp spines
- Latex highly caustic to the skin, possibly poisonous if ingested
- Tolerates many soil types
- Forms dense stands in native range
- Reproduces by seeds
- Seeds dispersed by wind and intentionally by people
- Able to coppice and resprout after cutting
Low Risk Traits:
- No reports of negative impacts where cultivated outside native range
- Non-toxic
- Light-demanding (unlikely to establish in intact forest understory)
- Not reported to spread vegetatively
- Long time to reproductive maturity
- Relatively large seeds unlikely to be inadvertently dispersed
- Recalcitrant seeds will not form a persistent seed bank