Family: Aizoaceae
Tetragonia echinata is a prostrate, succulent annual plant native to open, sandy slopes on disturbed ground in South Africa. The globose fruit, with spiny ridges and horns, may aid in dispersal by attaching to animals, clothing or other surfaces, and the seeds can also be spread by animals that feed on the plants. It is now naturalized on the island of Oahu, and is common on shallow, rocky soils where buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) was unable to establish, but it not expected to have serious negative impacts to agricultural or natural areas.
High Risk Traits:
- Able to spread and naturalize in regions with tropical climates
- Naturalized on Oahu (Hawaiian Islands), and in the Canary Islands
- Described as a disturbance weed and an agrestal weed (growing wild in cultivated fields.) but impacts to crop yields have not been documented.
- Other Tetragonia species have become invasive weeds
- Fruits with spiny ridges and horns
- Reproduces by seeds
- An annual, able to reach maturity in one growing season
- Seeds dispersed externally by attachment to animals, and probably through human activities, and internally after ingestion by animals
- Seeds able to persist beyond one growing season
Low Risk Traits:
- Prostrate growth form and occurrence in disturbed habitats may minimize negative impacts to agriculture or natural areas
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Palatable to browsing and grazing animals
- Not reported to be toxic
- Not reported to spread vegetatively