Clitoria ternatea (butterfly-pea).

C. ternatea is a pasture legume also commercialized as a garden ornamental that has been widely introduced in agroforestry systems in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Traits such as its high growth-rates, drought tolerance and adaptation to heavy clay soils suggest that this species could be used to improve natural grasslands (Staples, 1992). However, these traits have also helped this species to escape from cultivation and become an invasive species in river banks, creek lines, the margins of waterholes, irrigation channels, disturbed sites, roadsides and disturbed open woodlands and grasslands in Australia, Hawaii, the Galapagos Islands, Fiji, and on many islands in the Pacific region (Smith, 1985; Wagner et al., 1999; PIER, 2016; Weeds of Australia, 2016). C. ternatea is an aggressive colonizer of disturbed sites and open areas with the capability to displace and completely outcompete native vegetation (Weeds of Australia, 2016). Past risk assessments have given it a score of 7 (reject) for Australia and 9 (high risk) for the Pacific (PIER, 2016).