Demography of the invasive geophyte Oxalis pes-caprae across a Mediterranean island.

Background And Aims: Success during the early stages of the life-history of alien plants is essential for invasion to occur. The reproductive components of plant invaders have mostly been studied in species reproducing sexually but little is known about invaders that depend exclusively on vegetative reproduction. In this paper, the importance of the different recruitment stages on population growth is quantified and, thus, the invasion potential of the South African annual geophyte Oxalis pes-caprae invading Mediterranean ecosystems is assessed.