Family: Asteraceae

High Risk Traits:

• Elevation range exceeds 1000 m, demonstrating environmental versatility
  
• Broad climate suitability
  
• Naturalized in regions with subtropical climates
  
• Widely naturalized (including all main Hawaiian Islands except Kahoolawe)
  
• Primarily a weed of certain crops, gardens and amenity grasslands
  
• Other Taraxacum species are weedy
  
• Allelopathic
  
• Host of crop pathogens
  
• Shade-tolerant
  
• Tolerates many soil types
  
• Reproduces by seeds
  
• Hybridizes with other Taraxacum species
  
• Apomictic
  
• Can spread vegetatively by root fragments
  
• Seeds dispersed by wind, water, as a seed contaminant, internally in animals and intentionally by people
  
• Prolific seed production
  
• May form a persistent seed bank
  
• Tolerates mowing, cutting and grazing

Low Risk Traits:

• Unarmed (no spines, thorns or burrs)
  
• Palatable to animals and people
  
• Herbicides provide effective control