Family: Boraginaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Possibly naturalized in New Zealand
- Anecdotal reports of weediness reported from California, where it is claimed to crowd out other plants
- Other Echium species are invasive weeds
- Deer resistant and possibly unpalatable to browsing animals
- Anecdotally reported to be toxic or a skin irritant
- Tolerates many soil types
- Reproduces by seeds
- Self-compatible
- Seeds dispersed by gravity, possibly water and through intentional cultivation
Low Risk Traits:
- Grows at high elevations in the Canary Islands; may only have the potential to spread in similar high elevation habitats in tropical islands
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Grows best in high light environments (dense shade may inhibit spread)
- Seeds lack any obvious means of dispersal by animals or wind