Invasiveness Assessment - Parkinsonia (Parkinsonia aculeata) in Victoria (Nox)
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Plant invasiveness is determined by evaluating a plant’s biological and ecological characteristics against criteria that encompass establishment requirements, growth rate and competitive ability, methods of reproduction, and dispersal mechanisms.
| Each characteristic, or criterion, is assessed against a list of intensity ratings. Depending upon information found, a rating of Low, Medium Low, Medium High or High is assigned to that criterion. Where no data is available to answer a criterion, a rating of medium (M) is applied. A description of the invasiveness criteria and intensity ratings used in this process can be viewed here. |
The following table provides information on the invasiveness of Parkinsonia.
A more detailed description of the methodology of the Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method can be viewed below:
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (PDF - 630 KB)
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (DOC - 1 MB)
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Common Name: Parkinsonia, Jerusalem Thorn, Jelly bean tree
Scientific name: Parkinsonia aculeata
| Question | Comments | Rating | Confidence |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | Germinate any time of year if moisture is available and can germinate over a wide temperature range. Requires wet soil conditions for several days to stimulate germination (Parsons & Cuthbertson, 1992). | H | MH |
| Establishment requirements? | Found in moist areas receiving run-off. Growth is impeded in shaded areas (Parsons & Cuthbertson, 1992). “It requires full or nearly full sunlight to survive and reproduce” (Francis, 2003). | ML | MH |
| How much disturbance is required? | Found especially near creeks, rivers, bores or dams. Needs some kind of disturbance to become established. Will establish in areas of only minor disturbance ” (Francis, 2003). | MH | MH |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | Leguminous shrub (Parsons & Cuthbertson, 1992). | MH | MH |
| Allelopathic properties? | None described (Parsons & Cuthbertson, 1992). | L | MH |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | Livestock, especially sheep, browses foliage and pods. Under a biocontrol program with several insects showing potential as control agents (Parsons & Cuthbertson, 1992). Can be attacked by snow scale and termites (World Agroforestry Centre, n.d.). Research has shown up to 95% of seed banks can be destroyed by two Parkinsonia seed beetles. Rhinacloa callicrates is a leaf bug having no significant impact in Queensland to date. Weeds still persist (van Rangelrooy & Flanagan, 1999). | ML | MH |
| Normal growth rate? | Forms dense thickets and shades out pasture species (Parsons & Cuthbertson, 1992). Noted for its rapid growth (minimum estimate for a fast growing woody shrub) (World Agroforestry Centre, n.d.).. Will exceed most other species of same life form. | H | MH |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | Extremely drought resistant. Can survive in saline soils. Frost tolerant up to -5°C (World Agroforestry Centre, n.d.). Sensitive to waterlogging. Seedlings will not withstand fire but mature plants have high survival rate (DNRE, 2001). | MH | MH |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | Grows from seed, root or shoot cuttings although vegetative reproduction is not part of the plants natural cycle. Pollinated by bees but unknown if self-pollinator (World Agroforestry centre, n.d.). | L | MH |
| Number of propagules produced? | One pod usually contains between 2 to 6 seeds but can contain up to 9. Produces “large numbers of seeds and pods” (DNRE, 2004). “Profusely produces seeds” (World Agroforestry Centre, n.d.). Assume that produces greater than 2,000 seeds per flowering event. | H | MH |
| Propagule longevity? | Two types of seeds and about 25% of the light brown seeds germinate readily. The rest of the light brown seeds and all of the dark brown seeds have hard seed coats that must be scarified before they will germinate (Francis, 2003). Viable for up to three years (World Agroforestry Centre, n.d.). | L | MH |
| Reproductive period? | The plants can live up to 30 years. Species is capable of forming dense monocultures (Francis, 2003). | H | MH |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | Flower in the second or third growth season (Parsons & Cuthbertson, 1992). | ML | MH |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | Moved by floodwaters and streams. Birds eat seeds. Movement through mud, humans and machinery (Parsons & Cuthbertson, 1992). | H | MH |
| How far do they disperse? | Due to the dispersal mechanisms (see above), it is very likely that some of the propagules will be dispersed greater than 1 km. | H | MH |
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