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To Grow or not to Grow: Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants in Hawai?i Landscaping

Posted on Sep. 1, 2025 / Best Practices, Business Tips, Invasive Species, Native Species, Plant Pests / Subscribe 0

By: Darcy Yogi

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About 90% of invasive plants in Hawaiʻi were intentionally imported for agriculture, forestry, and horticulture. Many of these invasive plants are objectively beautiful, but unfortunately, they can become a nightmare in our forests when they escape yards. That’s when the Big Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC) comes in to help keep the worst invasives out of our high-priority native forests and to prevent new invasives from spreading across Hawaiʻi Island.

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Did you know, it is legal to sell, cultivate, and import more than 99% of the world’s 250,000 flowering plants to Hawaiʻi? Therefore, BIISC has to work really hard to provide outreach to the public, so they can make informed buying decisions. A big component of that work stems from the Hawaiʻi-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA), which is a peer-reviewed vetting process for assessing the invasion risk of non-native plant species. Using the HPWRA scores along with field observations, BIISC can prioritize which invasive plants to focus our efforts on.

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If high-risk plants are being sold in local nurseries and garden stores, then BIISC will assess whether or not to add them to the No Grow! List. We encourage the public to please avoid buying the plants highlighted in this article and instead select one of the native plant alternatives provided. You can learn more about any plant at plantpono.org. Remember, once a No Grow! plant is put in the ground, it can be nearly impossible to contain it from spreading.

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Each No Grow! plant has particularly harmful invasive traits:

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● Shade-tolerant

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● Produce viable seed that is dispersed by animals, water, and/or wind

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● Prolific seed producer with seeds lasting more than a year

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Autograph tree | HPWRA Score: 9[1]

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Figure 1. Autograph Tree (Clusia rosea). Photo credit: Forest & Kim Starr. Retrieved at StarrEnvironmental.com

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Native to the Caribbean, the autograph tree (Clusia rosea) thrives in Hawai‛i’s climate. First documented here in 1934, this species remains a commonly used landscaping tree. It quickly escapes cultivation, where it can epiphytically strangle other host trees and colonize gutters. When well-established, autograph trees can form dense thickets, effectively shading out other species. This tree reaches reproductive age in less than three years, and more than 1,000 bird-dispersed seeds are produced per square meter every year. Its epiphytic growth, aerial roots, and poisonous sap make controlling this plant extremely difficult.

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Suggested native plant substitutes: Kou (Cordia subcordata), Milo (Thespesia populnea), Hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus).

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Night-blooming jasmine | HPWRA Score: 17[2]

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Figure 2. Night-blooming jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum). Photo credit: BIISC

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Cestrum nocturnum is a highly invasive plant that has been spreading in native koa forests and preventing new native seedlings from establishing. Therefore, this invasive has been able to thrive far away from its probable origin near human residences. Birds, attracted to the white pea-sized fruit, consume the fruit and can fly to distant places before eventually pooping out the invasive seeds. Night-blooming jasmine’s sweet fragrance can hide its toxic and hazardous qualities.

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Suggested native plant substitutes: Alaheʻe (Psydrax odorata), Nāʻū (Gardenia brighamii), Hōʻawa (Pittosporum hosmeri)

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Asparagus fern | HPWRA Score: 15[3]

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Figure 3. Asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus). Photo credit: Forest & Kim Starr. Retrieved at StarrEnvironmental.com

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Asparagus densiflorus is a highly invasive, shade-tolerant perennial plant. Once established, this plant will be difficult to eradicate with its extensive root structure and the ability to regrow from even the smallest root left behind. Its needle-like leaves and thorns further complicate control efforts. In Hawai‛i, this species escaped cultivation and now invades low-light habitats and native forests. It has been able to spread far and wide with its bird-dispersed seeds and vegetative tubers. Unfortunately, even though this species is listed as invasive in 9 countries, it's still found for sale and prominently displayed in landscaping.

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Suggested native plant substitutes: Palapalai (Microlepia strigosa), ʻUkiʻuki (Dianella sandwicensis), ʻIlieʻe (Plumbago zeylanica)

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Tasmanian tree fern | HPWRA Score: 13[1]

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Figure 4. Tasmanian Tree Fern (Dicksonia antarctica) Kew-Gardens. Photo credit: BIISC.

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Dicksonia antarctica is an invasive tree fern that’s native to Australia and Tasmania. While it thrives in a broad range of climates, the higher elevation wet forests of the Hawaiian Islands are most at risk. Similar to the invasive Australian tree fern, this species’ shade tolerance and long-distance spore dispersal combo is a dangerous combination for our native forests. It is slow-growing and takes many years to reach reproductive maturity. However, when it does make fertile spores, it does so in massive quantities. A single frond produces as many as 750 million viable airborne spores! Its ability to rapidly spread via wind means there are few barriers to the dispersal of this species.

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Suggested native plant substitutes: Hāpuʻu (Cibotium glaucum), Loulu (Pritchardia hillebrandii), ʻĒkaha (Asplenium musifolium)

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High-risk Medinilla species | HPWRA Score: 8[5]

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Figure 5. Medinilla cumingii. Photo credit: Forest & Kim Starr. Retrieved at StarrEnvironmental.com

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Many plants in the Medinilla genus and Melastomaceae family are weedy and extremely invasive in Hawai’i. The seeds are easily dispersed by birds, water, and unintentionally through human activity (i.e., muddy boots/vehicles). Seeds, propagules, and clippings are often shared and sold due to their beautiful flowers and attractive foliage. However, these disturbance-adapted plants can produce more than 1,000 persistent seeds per square meter every year. Destructive to native habitats, these plants are very aggressive - shading over, crowding out, and smothering surrounding vegetation. Two particular species in this genus to avoid include Medinilla magnifica and Medinilla cumingii.

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Suggested native plant substitutes: Māmaki (Pipturus albidus), ʻAkiohala (Hibiscus furcellatus), Kokiʻo keʻokeʻo (Hibiscus waimeae)

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Barbados gooseberry | HPWRA Score: 13[6]

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Figure 6. Barbados Gooseberry (Pereskia aculeata ). Photo credit: BIISC

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Pereskia aculeata is capable of adapting to a variety of environmental conditions. Viable seeds are spread by water, birds, and humans in the horticultural trade. This sprawling shrub spreads rapidly to form dense, thorny, impenetrable thickets that effectively smother other vegetation. Stems and detached leaves stay alive and can form roots months after removal from the parent plant. Extreme thorniness and vigorous growth from plant fragments make control difficult. Barbados gooseberry is a target species for eradication on Hawaiʻi Island. If encountered, please contact BIISC for free removal.

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Suggested native plant substitutes: Pāʻūohiʻiaka (Jacquemontia ovalifolia), ʻŪlei (Osteomeles anthyllidifolia), Maiapilo (Capparis sandwichiana)

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Shrubby Dillenia | HPWRA Score: 11[7]

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Figure 7. Shrubby Dillenia (Dillenia suffruticosa | Plant Pono). Photo credit: OISC.

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Dillenia suffruticosa is an invasive flowering shrub native to the tropical climates of Borneo and Sumatra. In Oʻahu, shrubby Dillenia forms thickets from lowland moist valleys to ridge-top forests. Likely, it was introduced as a botanical specimen at Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden, where the first seedlings were found growing in a disturbed area just outside the grounds. This invasive plant makes more than 1000 viable seeds per square meter per plant! Attracted to the red seeds, non-native birds eat and disperse them around our forests.

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Suggested native plant substitutes: Maʻo hau hele (Hibiscus brackenridgei), Pāpala kēpau (Pisonia sandwicensis), Kamani (Calophyllum inophyllum).

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Bandicoot berry | HPWRA Score: 4[8]

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Figure 8. Bandicoot berry (Leea indica). Photo credit: Ahmad Fuad Morad.

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Leea indica is a small tree with an extensive native range in tropical Asia. Imported by Joseph Rock and planted in the Lyon Arboretum in 1931, the seedlings were documented spreading only 12 years later. Today, there are naturalized populations on Hawaiʻi Island and possibly Oʻahu. Bandicoot berry thrives in the understory, where it produces many bird-dispersed purplish-black fruit. BIISC always recommends avoiding this plant in the store and trying a pono plant instead.

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Suggested native plant substitutes: Kōpiko (Psychotria hawaiiensis), Neneleau (Rhus sandwicensis), ʻŌhiʻa ʻai (Syzygium malaccense)[1]

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Darcy Yogi lives in Hilo, HI, and works as the Invasive Plant Prevention Technician for the Big Island Invasive Species Committee. She helps to support the Plant Pono program, which focuses on preventing the spread of invasive plants and insect pests within the nursery trade on Hawaiʻi Island.

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To Grow or not to Grow: Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants in Hawai?i Landscaping

Autograph tree | HPWRA Score: 9[1]

Night-blooming jasmine | HPWRA Score: 17[2]

Asparagus fern | HPWRA Score: 15[3]

Tasmanian tree fern | HPWRA Score: 13[1]

High-risk Medinilla species | HPWRA Score: 8[5]

Barbados gooseberry | HPWRA Score: 13[6]

Shrubby Dillenia | HPWRA Score: 11[7]

Bandicoot berry | HPWRA Score: 4[8]

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