Invasive plants: The plant that wages chemical warfare

Invasive plant species pose an ever growing threat to the biodiversity of the North Coast and the country at large.

One of the worst is the Lantana bush, or Lantana Camara, from South America.

The Lantana bush is an untidy, spreading scrambler that can grow over two meters in height and has become a serious problem in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KZN, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West.

Its stems are covered in stiff hairs and recurved thorns. It has dark green, hairy leaves that give off a strong smell when crushed. From September to April the Lantana is in flower, producing pink, red, crimson, orange, yellow or white flowers, often with several colours in one head.

The Lantana also has small, glossy green fruits which turn purplish-black and are poisonous to humans and animals and responsible for loss of livestock amounting to millions of Rands every year in South Africa.

What makes the Lantana bush a real threat though is the fact that it is allelopathic – this means that it produces biochemicals that influence the germination, growth, survival, and reproduction of other plants. It literally wages chemical warfare on indigenous plant species.

Lantana is also called gomdagga in Afrikaans, ubukhwebezane in Zulu or ubutywala bentaka in Xhosa.

Sometimes grown as a hedge plant, the Lantana will quickly spread and strangle a garden. This harmful plant is further spread when birds eat the berries and carry them far and wide in their droppings.

If you think you have an invasive plant in your garden but are unable to identify it, contact the Dolphin Coast Conservancy’s Di Jones at 083 612 0859 and they will assist you in identifying it and suggesting alternative plants.

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