Family: Cyperaceae

High Risk Traits:

• Broad elevation range and climate suitability
  
• Grows in temperate to tropical climates
  
• Naturalized on Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, and Lanai (Hawaiian Islands)
  
• A weed of rice crops
  
• Other Eleocharis species have become invasive
  
• Potentially allelopathic
  
• Grows in full sun to shade
  
• Tolerates many soil types
  
• Capable of forming dense stands
  
• Reproduces by seeds
  
• Annual
  
• Seeds dispersed by water, and possibly by adhering to birds, other animals, and people
  
• Forms a persistent seed bank

Low Risk Traits:

• Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
  
• Palatable to animals
  
• Non-toxic
  
• Non-rhizomatous, not reported to spread vegetatively