How Lantana camara became one of India's worst invasive plants
Lantana camara, an ornamental plant introduced to India in the 1800s, has become a major invasive species covering over 40% of the country's tiger habitat. The plant outcompetes native vegetation and degrades soil quality, posing a significant challenge to conservation efforts.
Why it matters
The rapid spread of this invasive species threatens the ecological balance of critical tiger habitats, complicating wildlife protection efforts in India.
Two centuries ago, a British gardener probably admired its clustered pink-and-yellow blooms and thought it would look lovely around a garden hedge.Nobody could have guessed that this ornamental shrub would go on to outcompete some of India's oldest forest cover on the ground, choke the undergrowth that herbivores depend on, and become one of the country's most expensive conservation headaches.This yellow-pink clustered flower, Lantana camara, is easily spotted anywhere and grows recklessly without even being taken care of, so much so that every human eye keen on adoring nature’s beauty must have spotted it.This humble-looking plant, which was initially brought from the Americas in the 1800s only to adorn houses, has now taken over the forest cover that caters to a massive Tiger population of the countryA garden ‘jewel’ that turned into a forest predatorLantana camara arrived in India as an ornamental plant in the early 1800s, for its bright,…
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