Australia/New Zealand Weed Risk Assessment adapted for Florida. Data used for analysis published in: Gordon, D.R., D.A. Onderdonk, A.M. Fox, R.K. Stocker, and C. Gantz. 28. Predicting Invasive Plants in Florida using the Australian Weed Risk Assessment. Invasive Plant Science and Management : 78-95. Thespesia populnea (portia tree) Question number Question Answer Score. Is the species highly domesticated? n.2 Has the species become naturalised where grown?.3 Does the species have weedy races? 2. Species suited to Florida's USDA climate zones (-low; -intermediate; 2-high) 2 2.2 Quality of climate match data (-low; -intermediate; 2-high) 2 2.3 Broad climate suitability (environmental versatility) 2.4 Native or naturalized in habitats with periodic inundation y 2.5 Does the species have a history of repeated introductions outside its natural y range? 3. Naturalized beyond native range y 3.2 Garden/amenity/disturbance weed n 3.3 Weed of agriculture n 3.4 Environmental weed y 3.5 Congeneric weed n 4. Produces spines, thorns or burrs n 4.2 Allelopathic y 4.3 Parasitic n 4.4 Unpalatable to grazing animals 4.5 Toxic to animals n 4.6 Host for recognised pests and pathogens y 4.7 Causes allergies or is otherwise toxic to humans n 4.8 Creates a fire hazard in natural ecosystems n 4.9 Is a shade tolerant plant at some stage of its life cycle n 4. Grows on infertile soils (oligotrophic, limerock, or excessively draining soils) y 4. Climbing or smothering growth habit n 4.2 Forms dense thickets y 5. Aquatic n
5.2 Grass n 5.3 Nitrogen fixing woody plant n 5.4 Geophyte n 6. Evidence of substantial reproductive failure in native habitat 6.2 Produces viable seed y 6.3 Hybridizes naturally 6.4 Self-compatible or apomictic 6.5 Requires specialist pollinators n 6.6 Reproduction by vegetative fragmentation n 6.7 Minimum generative time (years) 2 7. Propagules likely to be dispersed unintentionally (plants growing in heavily trafficked areas) 7.2 Propagules dispersed intentionally by people y 7.3 Propagules likely to disperse as a produce contaminant n 7.4 Propagules adapted to wind dispersal y 7.5 Propagules water dispersed y 7.6 Propagules bird dispersed n 7.7 Propagules dispersed by other animals (externally)? 7.8 Propagules dispersed by other animals (internally) n 8. Prolific seed production y 8.2 Evidence that a persistent propagule bank is formed (> yr) y 8.3 Well controlled by herbicides y 8.4 Tolerates, or benefits from, mutilation or cultivation y 8.5 Effective natural enemies present in Florida, or east of the continental divide - - - - - Total Score 3 Outcome Reject* *Used secondary screen from: Daehler, C. C., J.L. Denslow, S. Ansari, and H. Kuo. 24. A risk assessment system for screening out harmful invasive pest plants from Hawaii s and other Pacific islands. Conserv. Biol. 8: 36-368. 2
section # questions answered satisfy minimum? A 7 yes B yes C 8 yes total 36 yes Data collected 26-27 Question number Reference Source data. cultivated, but no evidence of selection for reduced weediness.2.3 2. 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3. Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), "Milo is occasionally found at the edges of mangrove swamps and at the high tide line and will tolerate occasional inundation." "Milo has been planted throughout the tropics and is naturalized in tropical climates throughout the world from Caribbean to Africa to the Pacific." "Milo has been planted throughout the tropics and is naturalized in tropical climates throughout the world from Caribbean to Africa to the Pacific." 3.2 no evidence 3.3 no evidence 3.4. Kairo, Ali, Cheesman, Haysom, and Murphy (23) Invasive Species Threats in the Caribbean Region. Report to the Nature Conservancy. 2. Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry. Considered naturalized and invasive in the Bahamas and Puerto Rico. 2. "The tree has taken over beaches used by nesting sea turtles in the West Indies." 3.5 no evidence 4. Wagner, Herbst, and Sohmer (999) Manual of the flowering plants of Hawai'i. University of Hawai'i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. no description of these traits 4.2. John and Nair (998) Allelopathic effect of leaf litter of multipurpose trees on crops. Allelopathy Journal 5: 9-94. 2. USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). Data. Leaf litter of Thespesia populnea suppressed germination and growth of rice. 3
compiled from various sources by Mark W. Skinner. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA. 4.3 Wagner, Herbst, and Sohmer (999) Manual of the flowering plants of Hawai'i. University of Hawai'i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 4.4 4.5. USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA. 2. Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), 4.6 Sosef, Hong, and Prawirohatmodjo, eds. (998) Plant Resources of South-East Asia. No. 5(3). Timber Leiden. 4.7 USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Version Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA. BUT 2. not allelopathic no description of this no toxicity 4.8 no evidence 4.9. Horticopia 4. 2. Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry 4.. Weber (23) Invasive Plant Species of the World. CABI Publishing. 2. Sosef, Hong, and Prawirohatmodjo, eds. (998) Plant Resources of South-East Asia. No. 5(3). Timber Trees: Lesserknown Timbers. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 4. USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Version Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA. 4.2. Weber (23) Invasive Plant Species of the World. CABI Publishing. 2. Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry 5. terrestrial 5.2 USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Version Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA. Malvaceae 5.3 USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Version Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA.. no toxicity 2. "Leaves have been used as animal fodder." "T. populnea has been outlawed in cotton-growing areas because it is an alternative host of certain cotton pests.". exposure: full sun 2. "requires full sun". "Where native, this shrub grows at the edges of mangrove swamps, along tidal waters, usually on sandy and rocky coasts." 2. "preferring light sandy soils" growth habit: tree/shrub. "The shrub's spreading lower branches leads to dense and impenetrable thickets that affect wildlife and crowd out native vegetation." 2. "It grows in dense thickets which tend to exclude other plants" does not fix nitrogen (and is Malvaceae) 4
5.4. USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA. 2. Francis (23) Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol. ex Correa. Tropical Tree Seed Manual, Species Descriptions. Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Resources (http://www.rngr.net/publications/ttsm/folder.23-7-.4726/pdf.24-3-6.354/file). 6. 6.2. USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA. 2. Weber (23) Invasive Plant Species of the World. CABI Publishing. 3. Sosef, Hong, and Prawirohatmodjo, eds. (998) Plant Resources of South-East Asia. No. 5(3). Timber Trees: Lesserknown Timbers. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. 6.3 6.4 6.5 Sosef, Hong, and Prawirohatmodjo, eds. (998) Plant Resources of South-East Asia. No. 5(3). Timber Leiden. 6.6. USDA, NRCS. 25. The PLANTS Database, Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 7874-449 USA. 2. Lorenzi, de Souza, Torres, and Bacher (23) Arvores Exoticas no Brasil. Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora Ltda., Sao Paolo, Brasil. 6.7 Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), 7. 7.2. Sosef, Hong, and Prawirohatmodjo, eds. (998) Plant Resources of South-East Asia. No. 5(3). Timber Leiden. 2. Francis (23) Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol. ex Correa. Tropical Tree Seed Manual, Species Descriptions. Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Resources (http://www.rngr.net/publications/ttsm/folder.23-7-.4726/pdf.24-3-6.354/file).. not propagated by bulbs, corms, or tubers 2. "Seedlings develop a long, wiry taproot with numerous fine laterals.". propagated by seed 2. "Sometimes it forms forests of seedlings at the high-tide line of beaches." 3. "Thespesia [genus] is easily raised from seed" "Pollination is probably by birds.". vegetative spread rate: none 2. Propagation exclusively by seeds. "Flowering may begin in trees as young as to 2 years old.". "T. populnea is a sacred tree in many parts of the Pacific and has often been planted near temples. Elsewhere it has been planted as an ornamental or roadside tree." 2. "It is also used to reforest disturbed coastal areas and stabilize coastal dunes." 7.3 no evidence 7.4. Parrotta (994) USDA Forest Service, International. "The seeds are probably Institute of Tropical Forestry dispersed by the wind" 2. hairy (http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/thespesiapopulnea.pdf). seeds; "Seeds are blown short 2. Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea distances by wind but more likely (milo), to be dispersed by water." 5
7.5. Weber (23) Invasive Plant Species of the World. CABI Publishing. 2. Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry 7.6 wind dispersed 7.7 hairy seeds 7.8 wind dispersed 8.. Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), 2. Francis (23) Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol. ex Correa. Tropical Tree Seed Manual, Species Descriptions. Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Resources (http://www.rngr.net/publications/ttsm/folder.23-7-.4726/pdf.24-3-6.354/file). 8.2 Sosef, Hong, and Prawirohatmodjo, eds. (998) Plant Resources of South-East Asia. No. 5(3). Timber Leiden. 8.3 Workman (998) Mahoe: native or exotic or both? Wildland Weeds : 9-. 8.4 Friday and Okano (25) Thespesia populnea (milo), 8.5. "...seeds are dispersed by tides and ocean currents. The small seeds can withstand extended periods of floating and easily germinate in sand." 2. "Both the lightweight fruits and seeds can float from one island to another on ocean currents.". "The tree seeds prolifically" 2. to seeds per fruit (mean 5.7) "The seeds remain viable in seawater for more than a year" Thespesia populnea control: cut stump, 5% Garlon 3A / water solution; basal bark, % Garlon 4 / oil solution. "Milo tolerates heavy pruning and trees will grow back even if topped or pollarded." 6