Family: Fabaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Broad climate suitability and elevation range
- Thrives and spreads in regions with tropical climates
- Naturalized on Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii (Hawaiian Islands) and widely naturalized elsewhere
- A weed of riparian vegetation, forest margins, open wooodlands, roadsides, disturbed sites and waste areas
- Reported to be a crop weed in other regions of the world and an environmental weed in Australia
- Other Desmodium species are invasive weeds
- Shade tolerant
- Tolerates many soil types
- Climbing and potentially smothering habit
- Reproduces by seeds and vegetatively by stolons
- Hybridizes with other Desmodium species
- Self-fertile
- Reaches maturity in second year of growth
- Seeds dispersed by attaching to animals, clothing and vehicles
- Seeds may also be dispersed by water, in contaminated agricultural produce and internally by grazing animals
- Resprouts from the rootstock after fires
Low Risk Traits:
- Valued as a palatable pasture species in the Hawaiian Islands, and generally not regarded as a serious or detrimental weed
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Non-toxic
- Self-fertile, but may depend on pollinators for good seed set
- Some herbicides may provide effective control
