Boca Raton, FL Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Sec. 27-46 protects the city's natural vegetative communities by controlling and eliminating invasive, nonnative species, and it flatly prohibits planting Schinus terebinthinfolius (Brazilian pepper tree), Melaleuca quinquenervia (melaleuca) and Casuarina equisetifolia (Australian pine) anywhere in the city. On a site being developed, removal of these three species is mandatory as a condition of final environmental permit inspection approval and must happen before the certificate of occupancy is issued; for commercial and multifamily residential developments, ongoing removal is folded into the landscape plan and the required regular maintenance program, so the obligation doesn't end at initial occupancy.

Privately owned platted preserve and conservation areas must also be kept free of these invasive species, and the environmental officer periodically inspects those sites to confirm compliance. The requirement is not absolute: control and elimination procedures are not required where they would cause adverse environmental impacts, such as destroying listed species, degrading critical habitat or accelerating erosion, and vegetation providing screening from neighboring properties can be removed in phases approved by the development services department to soften the impact on adjoining land. These same three species are separately listed as exempt from the tree preservation article's removal-permit process in Sec. 27-42, meaning a landowner does not need a tree permit to remove them.