Family: Arecaceae

High Risk Traits:

• Broad climate tolerance (zones 10B–11; sea level to 1000 m)
  
• Native to tropics & widely introduced as ornamental
  
• Host for 14 fungi + coconut pests
  
• Shade-tolerant when young
  
• Grows in clay, sand, loam, and limestone
  
• Produces viable seed
  
• Bird-dispersed fleshy fruits; seeds survive gut passage

Low Risk Traits:

• No naturalization
  
• Not a weed (garden, ag, forestry, or environmental)
  
• No spines, thorns, burrs, or allelopathic effects
  
• Not parasitic, toxic, or a fire hazard
  
• No vegetative spread or runners
  
• Large seeds – no wind/water/external animal dispersal
  
• Low seed output; no persistent seed bank
  
• Susceptible to lethal yellowing disease (local biocontrol)