Family: Apocynaceae

High Risk Traits:

• Elevation range exceeds 1000 m, demonstrating environmental versatility
  
• Widely naturalized (not documented in the Hawaiian Islands)
  
• Garden and environmental weed
  
• Vinca major is also invasive
  
• Relatively unpalatable to browsing and grazing animals
  
• Toxic to animals and potentially toxic, and allergenic to humans
  
• Shade-tolerant
  
• Tolerates many soil types
  
• Forms thick mats that smother the ground and low-growing vegetation
  
• Reproduces rapidly by vegetative means
  
• Vegetative fragments spread in garden waste, and by water
  
• Able to resprout after cutting

Low Risk Traits:

• Unarmed (no spines, thorns or burrs)
  
• Ornamental and medicinal uses
  
• Rarely, if ever, produces seeds in introduced range
  
• Lack of seed production may limit ability to disperse and spread
  
• Certain herbicides may provide effective control