Family: Ebenaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Broad climate suitability
- Able to grow in subtropical and tropical climates
- Reported as naturalized in Japan (but no evidence from the Hawaiian Islands)
- Unconfirmed reports of weediness
- Other Diospyros species are invasive
- Potentially allelopathic
- Tolerates many soil types
- Can reproduce by seeds and vegetatively by suckers
- Some cultivars may produce fruit after 2 years
- Seeds, if produced, may be dispersed by frugivorous mammals, birds, seed caching rodents, and through intentional cultivation
- Tolerates pruning (may resprout if cut)
Low Risk Traits:
- A domesticated tree with a long history of cultivation and no confirmed reports of negative impacts where grown
- Cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands with no evidence of naturalization or invasiveness
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Foliage palatable to browsing animals
- Non-toxic
- Grows in full sun and high light environments (dense shade may inhibit spread)
- Dioecious
- Parthenocarpic trees may produce seedless fruit
- Seeds, when produced, are relatively large and unlikely to be dispersed long distances by animals or accidentally