Invasiveness Assessment - Box elder (Acer negundo) in Victoria
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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 Box elder.
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 - 1026 KB)
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Common Name: Box elder
Scientific name: Acer negundo
| Question | Comments | Rating | Confidence |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | Mass germination occurs in spring (Blood 2001). | MH | MH |
| Establishment requirements? | Can establish in partially shaded habitats (Mędrzycki 2007). | MH | MH |
| How much disturbance is required? | Can invade riparian vegetation (Carr, Yugovic & Robinson 1992). | MH | MH |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | Other; Tree (Carr, Yugovic & Robinson 1992). | L | MH |
| Allelopathic properties? | Leaves contain inhibitory compounds (Rice 1984). The impact these compounds have on other plants is not reported. | M | M |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | In a study in the US after four years exposed to browsing pressure of 67 White tailed deer per km2 all box elder saplings were eliminated (Rossell, Gorsira & Patch 2005). Densities of 67 White tailed deer per km2 are high as Kilpatrick, Spohr & Lima (2001) report that densities of 20 deer/ km2 to be moderate and at a more moderate grazing pressure it is presumed some will be able to reach maturity as the species is able to grow to 4.6 m in its first four to five years (Dineva 2005). When leaves are damaged they release volatile compounds which may act as a deterrent to insects (Ping, Shen & Jin 2001). In the species native range it is generally avoided by foraging insectivorous birds (Gabbe et al 2002). This would indicate that the tree doesn’t support much insect life and therefore as a mature tree not effected by grazing. | MH | H |
| Normal growth rate? | Fast growing (Blood 2001). Fast growing, gap colonising tree (O’Hanlon-Manner & Kotanen 2006). Fast growing tree (Möllerová 2005). Very fast growing in its first 20 years of life, able to grow to 4.6 m in four to five years (Dineva 2005). | H | H |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | Tolerant of flooding (Weber 2003). Saplings can be killed is inundated for more than 85 days during the growing season, mature trees however can survive being inundated for the entire growing season (Friedman & Auble 1999). Tolerant of frost (Blood 2001). Will re-shoot after fire (Blood 2001). Saplings that are only a few years old will not survive fire (Sachse 1992). Sensitive to water stress, females more than males (Ward et al 2002). Tolerant to some extent of drought (Weber 2003). Drought resistant (Mędrzycki & Pabjanek 2001). Susceptible to caviation under drought conditions (Tissier et al 2004). Growth is reportedly poor on saline soils (Dineva 2005). | MH | MH |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | Plants of the species produce separate female and male flowers, which are usually on separate plants and through sexual reproduction seeds are produced (Blood 2001). The different sex flowers are said to be usually on different plants, usually would indicate, not always, therefore the species is capable of self and cross pollination. | ML | MH |
| Number of propagules produced? | Female trees can produces up to 30,000 seeds (Mędrzycki & Pabjanek 2001). | H | H |
| Propagule longevity? | Germinating power of seed is reported to reduce quickly (Möllerová 2005). This is presumably less than 5 years. | L | M |
| Reproductive period? | Can live for 60 years (Kort & Michiels 1997). Can form monocultures (Sachse 1992). | H | H |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | First fruits after 10 years (Möllerová 2005). Maturity reported in five years (Sachse 1992). While there is dispute to when the species can reproduce the minimum is still five years or more. | L | H |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | Seed is dispersed by wind and water. Plants are also still available in trade (Blood 2001). Seeds can be transported by vehicles along roads (Von Der Lippe & Kowarik 2007). | MH | MH |
| How far do they disperse? | Wind dispersed seeds may be carried more than 50 m, and seed can survive at least six weeks in water (Mędrzycki 2007). With water as a dispersal agent, seeds are capable of being dispersed distances greater than 1 km (Vogt, Rasran & Jensen 2004). | H | MH |
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