Lantana Camara | 30 Nov 2023

Recently, fifteen elephant figurines created from a toxic and invasive plant species, Lantana camara, are currently on display outside the Vidhana Soudha (Vidhan Sabha) in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

• Lantana camara is a perennial shrub native to the American tropics and belongs to the Verbenaceae family.
  • With the ability to adapt to the changing climate, lantana can tolerate high temperature and moisture.
• However, it is one of the world’s ten worst invasive species and a species of high concern for India.
  • Lantanas arrived in India as a decorative shrub in the British colonial period but quickly took over several ecosystems as an invasive plant.
  • Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in Western Ghats is one of the largest impacted hotspot areas due to invasion dominated by Lantana camara.

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