Commercial native plant varieties grow larger aboveground but underperform in invasion resistance relative to wild-collected natives

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Both commercial and wild mixtures suppressed B. tectorum relative to control mesocosms without native plants. The commercial mixture produced more aboveground volume than wild mixtures in both seasons, but was less effective at suppressing B. tectorum, which accumulated 67% more biomass in commercial mesocosms than in wild ones. Commercial communities shrank following invasion. In contrast, several wild communities had near-complete B. tectorum suppression, despite smaller aboveground volume, and all wild communities increased in size in the second season. Highly competitive wild mixtures are promising for restoration and suggest a potential trade-off between rapid aboveground growth and invasion resistance. Commercially available native plants selected for agronomic traits like large size and high seed yield may lack characteristics desirable in invaded dryland restoration settings, such as weed suppression and low biomass production to reduce fuel for wildfires.