Family: Euphorbiaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Broad climate suitability and elevation range
- Naturalized on Kauai, Hawaii, and possibly Oahu (Hawaiian Islands) and widely naturalized elsewhere
- A potential landscaping or environmental weed due to toxic sap and ability to form dense thickets
- Other Euphorbia species are invasive weeds
- Sap poisonous to animals and people
- Tolerates many soil types
- Forms dense thickets that may impede movement or exclude other vegetation
- Reproduces by seeds (at least within native range) and vegetatively by rooting stems and fragments
- Seeds, if produced, reportedly spread by birds, water and intentional cultivation
- Coppices and resprouts after cutting or physical damage
Low Risk Traits:
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Palatable to goats and sheep at younger stages of growth (despite toxic sap)
- Grows best in high light environments (dense shade may inhibit spread)
- Dioecious (although some plants may be monoecious)
- Limited fruit and seed production in cultivation limits risk of long distance or accidental dispersal
- Herbicides may provide effective control