Family: Fabaceae
High Risk Traits:
- Widely naturalized worldwide
- Thrives in tropical climates
- Serious weed of agriculture
- Weedy genus
- Potentially allelopathic
- Toxic to cattle
- Potentially toxic to people
- Host for pathogens
- Tolerates many soil conditions (and potentially able to exploit many different habitat types)
- Forms dense thickets and crowds out other vegetation
- Self-pollinating
- Can reach reproductive maturity in 1 year
- Prolific seed production
- Forms a persistent seed bank
- Seeds dispersed by water and inadvertently on equipment, animals and as a produce contaminant
- Tolerates and resprouts after cutting
Low Risk Traits:
- Shade-intolerant
- Used medicinally, and as a source of food (leaves) or as a coffee-substitute (roasted seeds)
- Not known to hybridize with other Senna species
- Will not spread vegetatively
- Herbicides may provide effective control
