Family: Fabaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Thrives, and spreads, in regions with tropical climates
- Naturalized on Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii (Hawaiian Islands)
- A weed in cultivated areas, waste places, inland plantations and disturbed forests.
- A potential agricultural and environmental weed (controlled in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park)
- Other Canavalia species have become invasive
- Seeds are toxic unless cooked
- Climbing and smothering growth habit
- Reproduces by seeds
- Hybridizes with other Canavalia species
- Seeds dispersed by water and intentionally by people
- Seeds impermeable to water for at least 1 1/2 years; can form a persistent seed bank
Low Risk Traits:
- Despite reports of weediness, negative impacts are generally unspecified
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Provides fodder for livestock (although mature seeds may be toxic)
- Distribution appears to be limited to coastal habitats with high light levels and sandy, well-drained soils
- May be self-incompatible, limiting seed set
- Aside from water and intentional cultivation, large seeds unlikely to be accidentally dispersed
- Seeds reported to lack buoyancy, potentially limiting dispersal distance by water
