Lower Risk

Rhaphiolepis indica ‘Oriental Pearl’ PBR (Indian Hawthorn)

The parent plant Rhaphiolepis indica is a shrub native to SE Asia that has naturalised and been described as an environmental weed in QLD and NSW. The cultivar shows no evidence of vegetative reproduction but differs from the parent in that the flowers do not yield much fruit, and produce few seeds, lowering the risk of long-distance dispersal by birds. Based on these altered reproductive characteristics compared to the parent plant, this cultivar may have a lower potential to become a weed. The resistance of the cultivar to foliar diseases is stronger, which could potentially lead to increased success in spread/invasive behaviour. Overall, it is likely that the lower production of seeds will mean less invasive potential than the parent.