Family: Cleomaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Broad climate suitability (native to tropical climates and widely naturalized in warm temperate to tropical regions)
- Widely naturalized in North America, China, and elsewhere (but no evidence in the Hawaiian Islands to date)
- A weedy plant of disturbed habitats, and anecdotally reported to be a problem in gardens and landscape settings
- Other Cleome species are invasive weeds
- Leaves with stipular and scattered spines
- Unpalatable to deer, rabbits, and cattle
- Tolerates many soil types
- Reproduces by seeds
- Self-fertile
- Annual life cycle, reaching maturity in one growing season
- Seeds dispersed through dehiscence, and possibly as a soil contaminant, by water, and through intentional cultivation
Low Risk Traits:
- Despite widespread naturalization, negative impacts appear to be minor and largely restricted to disturbed environments
- Non-toxic
- Grows best in high light environments (dense shade may inhibit spread)
- Herbicides may provide effective control