Family: Fabaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Thrives and spreads in regions with tropical climates
- Naturalized on Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai. Maui and Hawaii (Hawaiian Islands) and widely naturalized in the wet tropics
- A common weed in landscapes, home gardens, pastures, and other agricultural production systems
- May compete with or impact certain endangered plants in the Hawaiian Islands, although not conclusively implicated in specific, detrimental effects
- Other Desmodium species are invasive weeds
- Tolerates many soil types
- Reproduces by seeds and vegetatively by stolons, by fragments of stems or broken pieces of its taproot.
- Self-fertile
- Seeds dispersed by animals and humans, the hooked hairs on the pod adhering to fur or clothing; seeds also spread internally by grazing animals
- Seeds may form a persistent seed bank (up to 4 years)
- Tolerates heavy grazing, mowing and fire
Low Risk Traits:
- Valued as a palatable pasture species in the Hawaiian Islands, with negative impacts, if any, largely restricted to disturbed habitats
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Highly palatable
- Non-toxic
- Grows best in high light environments (dense shade may inhibit spread)
- Herbicides may provide effective control
