This tree grows aggressively in Phoenix AZ in homes with irrigation.My neighbor has one that in as tall as the telephone poles It leaves...Read More thousands of seeds in my back yard every year and seedling spring up in the lawn, along my foundation, and cracks of the sidewalks. 5 years ago a couple of them planted in the other neighbors hose and it's over 30 feet tall, and that's after the prior owner cut it down (didn't remove the trunk.) The wood is week so the branches are breaking off whenever we have the monsoon storms. It regrows easily if you cut the stem anywhere above the ground. I have to spray lawn weed killer aggressively to keep control of all the multitude of seedlings that pop up every week. The seed pods open in mid air spraying seeds everywhere, or they land unopened and break apart with the weed-whacker or lawn mower for more seedlings to torment me! It's not possible to just poick them up as I get hundreds falling into my yard weekly
I am going to buy pre-emergant to see if it helps but they are not listed in the list of plants it's effective for.
By far the quickest and most dense species to use as a privacy screen outside the wonderful but much more pricey bamboo family. If you ha...Read Moreve an unsightly wall or a series of intruding neighbor's windows over a fence on your property line this will completely solve the problem not in a decade or after planting a row of very expensive mature conifers but in only 1 year after planting seedlings germinated quite easily from a seed pack that costs you only a couple of dollars. It's the cheapest, quickest hedgerow from seed to mature tree on the planet. Once established the screen is nearly indestructible, easily tolerates drought, full sun or shade, high temperatures etc. Only freezing temps slow it down. Not to mention many people find its intricate leaves and spherical flowers very attractive. It has been a Godsend for Australian farmers desperate for an inexpensive cow fodder as well as a great nitrogen fixer. If you live in an area like the majority of the Californian population does that was naturally a desert scrubland absent of trees in which every tree species in your city was artificially planted originally by man, and worries about natural forest invasive species are nonexistent, this tree is a beautiful antidote for the concrete jungle.
Native to Belize, Guatamala, and southern Mexico, it has naturalized in California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, and Hawaii. It is highly invasive in the dryer parts of Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Bahamas, Fiji, South America, Europe, Florida, and Hawaii, where it forms dense thicket monocultures.
I found this plant last summer growing in a 5-gallon pot on the side of the road in a neighbor's throwaway pile. Thinking it was a native...Read More False Tamarind ( Lysiloma latisiliqua) I saved it in the backyard while I was busy with other projects. During the rainy season it doubled in size, and when I decided to plant it in my front yard later in the fall I had to hack off the roots that had grown several feet through the pot in all directions. Although this abuse caused the leaves to drop and some of the branch tips to die, the tree almost immediately sprouted new green shoots all over its crown that now have grown over a foot in length (and we are still in the dry season here).
Now that it is flowering and fruiting I am disappointed to find that this is a specimen of Lead Tree instead of a False Tamarind, distinguished by its flat (instead of twisted) seed pods and its solitary flowers (as opposed to the clustered flowers of the False Tamarind). Since it is serving its purpose as a shade tree in front of some large windows for now I suppose I will keep it temporarily while being careful to trim off and dispose of the seed pods, at least until I can grow a more desirable species to take its place.
2013 update: That tree grew several meters until I cut it down about a year ago. It became impossible to deadhead everything and seeds started to sprout all over the yard. They are easy to pull out and I looked at it as green manure as the seedling roots were often nodulated. I can see that this tree would be nightmarishly invasive if left neglected or grown anywhere close to a watercourse or any other place it can spread into the wild. In my yard seeds are still sprouting. After the tree was cut I got one flush of coppice growth and that was all. I know this tree was touted as an agricultural miracle and large plantations were created for livestock fodder in other countries where it is non-native.
I bought a house recently in Palm Bay, FL (Central FL) that had what I believe to be White Tamarind trees growing from every imaginable p...Read Morelace on the property. They OBVIOUSLY were not planted there intentionally. One tree already 15-20ft. high was growing right out of the base of a hedge directly on the corner of the house. Another was growing out of a seam in one of the downspouts and was already 6ft. high! There were a few trees 3ft. high or so growing out of an untended patch of land full of post-hurricane debris. Not to mention the numerous tiny plants all over the yard from the plethora of seed pods.
These were all growing prolifically and without human care - I can't imagine anyone actually planting one! The guy next door was trying to tell me the one in his yard was a "mango or avocado tree". Needless to say, I felt it my duty to enlighten him.
Definitely in the same category as the pepper tree - Extremely Invasive!
Will freeze to the ground, but will come back in the spring. Gets a late start since it has to grow mature branches in order to bloom, s...Read Moreo blooms late summer to early fall here. Will probably do best as a shrub rather than a tree since it doesn't get very big.
Boca Raton, FL (Zone 10a) | September 2004 | negative
This plant is also invasive in much of central and southern Florida, northward to Georgia, including in my Boca Raton area. It is very in...Read Morevasive in natural habitats all over the county I live in and forms large, spreading stands of young and adult trees, crowding out native plants. It is also often found with other invasive, non-native species such as Brazilian Pepper, in natural areas that have already been disturbed by other exotic invaders. NOTE: This plant is also on the Florida Exotic Pest Plants Council's EPPC Plant List Category One due to this invasiveness.
MORE FACTS - This tree also grows in Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Caribbean. The tree also grows in Texas and the Southwestern U.S.
This is a pest. Introduced accidentally from Africa by the same ships that brought african slaves to America, this small tree found in th...Read Moree tropical America its paradise. Propagating itself in heavy quantities every year through the massive seed production, it´s one of the most threats to native ecossystems.
This is a short tree, usually reaching up to 5 meters tall, but sometimes more. It has bipinnate leaves, with leaflets looking grey on the lower page and bright green on the upper one. These leaflets drop constantly, producing an annoying ammount of litter every day.
The flowers are cream coloured, coming in round heads all the year. They will most likely produce dark seed pods with lots of hard brown seeds with a high germinative ratio.
It vegetates on any kind of soil, dry or moist, as long as it have full sun light and high temperatures. Extremely invasive, and should be erradicated outside its natural habitat, before it does the same to our native species.
This tree grows aggressively in Phoenix AZ in homes with irrigation.My neighbor has one that in as tall as the telephone poles It leaves...Read More
By far the quickest and most dense species to use as a privacy screen outside the wonderful but much more pricey bamboo family. If you ha...Read More
The World Conservation Union IUCN has included this shrubby species on their list of 100 of the world's worst invasive species, an honor ...Read More
Leucaena leucoccephala is native to central america, where it is used for fodder and firewood, as well as to provide shade for coffee plants.
I found this plant last summer growing in a 5-gallon pot on the side of the road in a neighbor's throwaway pile. Thinking it was a native...Read More
I bought a house recently in Palm Bay, FL (Central FL) that had what I believe to be White Tamarind trees growing from every imaginable p...Read More
Will freeze to the ground, but will come back in the spring. Gets a late start since it has to grow mature branches in order to bloom, s...Read More
This plant is also invasive in much of central and southern Florida, northward to Georgia, including in my Boca Raton area. It is very in...Read More
This is a pest. Introduced accidentally from Africa by the same ships that brought african slaves to America, this small tree found in th...Read More