Family: Fabaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Broad climate suitability
- Grows in temperate to tropical climates
- Widely naturalized (but no evidence in Hawaiian Islands to date)
- Agricultural weed
- Environmental weed
- Other Melilotus species are invasive weeds
- May be allelopathic
- Improperly cured or dried plants may be harmful to animals
- Tolerates many soil types
- Forms dense cover that can exclude other vegetation
- Reproduces by seeds
- Some plants may be self-fertile (with low seed set)
- Can reach maturity in <1 year (but often >1 growing season)
- Seeds dispersed by water, internally by animals, as a contaminant of other crops and seed mixes and intentionally by people
- Prolific seed production
- Forms a persistent seed bank
- May tolerate fire and cutting at certain growth stages
Low Risk Traits:
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Provides fodder for livestock (palatable despite reports of toxicity)
- N-fixing (improves soil fertility)
- Not reported to spread vegetatively
- Beneficial to bees and other pollinators
- Herbicides may provide effective control if removal is desired