Lantana camara L.

Code

LANCA

Growth form

Shrub

Life cycle

perennial

Habitat

terrestrial

Mayotte: Lantana camara flowers and fruits all year round.
New Caledonia: The seeds of Lantana camara germinate throughout the year if moisture conditions permit. After slow growth, a strong root system settles and thickets grow in the first rainy season. Flowering lasts the dry season until the end of the rainy season when fruits are mature.

Lantana camara can be confused with Lantana trifolia L. The main criteria to distinguish these species are:

Lantana camara occurs in bushveld, forest, forest-edge, riparian or riverine, staff villages, roadsides, and other disturbed areas.

Comoros: Lantana camara has spread to roadsides in dry environments. It grows rapidly in abandoned fields, forming impenetrable clumps. It adapts to all kinds of soil (sandy clay, rock). It is present in the three islands especially in the lowlands, but it progresses to medium altitude regions up to 600 m.
French Guiana: Frequent sarmentose shrub of ruderal vegetation.
Madagascar: ruderal plant spread throughout Madagascar. It settled in the most diverse environments: the semi-arid south, east perhumid through the Highlands, in the undergrowth, in the margins, on the edges of roads and canals, and sometimes in very sunny savannahs. It is often found outside of cultivated fields, with the exception of sloppy perennial crops, to incorporate in secondary vegetation.
Maurice: naturalized species can become invasive. It can be found in isolated places along the road. It also forms extensive stands in abandoned, rocky places. Species with wide distribution.
Mayotte: Lantana camara is an exotic species introduced probably in the 1940s for its medicinal properties and still cultivated locally. This species is very invasive especially in the coastal xerophilous region and also on some rocky ridges in altitude.
New Caledonia: Very ubiquitous species, which grows in many environments, in pastures and low-altitude crops on rich soils. It is also found at medium altitude, in the valleys, the Niaouli's savannahs, dry forests and in coastal areas in many ravines and hills.
Reunion: Species very ubiquitous, present in all environments lit across the island and up to 1200 m altitude. This species colonizes quickly any opening in the vegetation, roadside or fallow. It is very tolerant to drought.
Seychelles: ruderal species in forest edge and in fallows.

Global harmfulness

Lantana camara is considered as one of the most invasive weed. Lantana camara is distributed as an ornamental plant throughout the world since the 17th century, the lantana is one of 100 species of the most invasive of the IUCN list.

Local harmfulness

Australia: It covers 4 million ha.
Comoros: L. camara is an invasive plant that chokes all plantations.
French Guiana: An infrequent and not very abundant plant, it is sometimes observed on the edges of vegetable plots or in fruit orchards, especially when they are under permanent plant cover.
Madagascar: Species mainly ruderal rare weed in annual crops. However it is a major embarrassment for the circulation of the villagers access to fields and transporting the harvest most often on their backs, for cleaning or flushing channels. It often forms impenetrable thickets at the edge of fields, along waterways and canals, constitutes preferred places of refuge for various pests, especially rats. It grows very quickly in fallows and wastelands.
Mauritius: Occasional weed in sugarcane fields and other crops where it can become invasive and very harmful if it is not controlled.
Mayotte: Lantana camara is a fairly frequent weed, present in 9% of cultivated plots. It occurs mainly in fruit crops. It is also present in food crops.
New Caledonia: L. camara is considered a plague in New Caledonia. It is particularly invasive in pastures and crops at low altitude on rich soils. It is also found at medium altitudes, in the valleys, Niaouli savannah, dry forest. In coastal areas it invades many river banks and hills.
Reunion: A weed very common, particularly in sugarcane fields, pineapple or orchards. It is present in 50% of the fileds, but its abundance is always maintain low in crops. This presence quite everywhere allows it to quickly colonize the land as soon as it is abandoned. In the dry area, it colonizes savanna and forest lands, forming dense thickets that greatly disturb the development of indigenous vegetation. In addition, the presence of essential oil glands in the leaves makes it a very flammable species, facilitating bush fires.
Seychelles: The species is frequent and forming dense thickets.
South Africa: East coast and Eastern interior of South Africa. Declared category 1 weed. It is an invasive weed, forms dense impenetrable thickets, replaces indigenous vegetation, and increases erosion.

Ornemental : Lantana camara is cultivated for ornament and hedging.
Medicinal: The infusion of roots or leaves can be used against pulmonary pain and hypertension. The essential oil of Lantana camara has fungicidal and bactericidal properties. It can also destroy ticks, especially the males.
Agronomical: This species is used in the fight against insects (see the OPTIONS project fact sheet). Important role in Madagascar to protect gullies against erosion.
Others : Flowers visited by bees and butterflies. Fruit eaten by birds, monkeys, and insects. Young stems browsed by bushbuck.

Control

A combination of mechanical and chemical control methods. Bushes can be chopped and the stumps treated with selective herbicide. Smaller plants can be pulled by hand. Bio-control agents have been released but their success is unknown. Foliar herbicide sprays are also used.

Local control

Madagascar: The control of Lantana camara old plants can be done simply by stripping. Young plants are easily controlled with 2,4-D. for  re-cultivation of fallow land to L. camara, the more efficient is to mow it and apply 2,4-D after regrowth (about three weeks). There is thus directly a cover for direct sowing in good conditions.
New Caledonia: 
Mechanical control: Seedlings of L. camara can be torn by hand, older single individuals require the use of mechanized harvesting. The most extensive stands must be integrated control beyond a simple mowing that will only increase their density. Plowing with discking followed by sowing allows replaying some pastures (exclosure 6 months).
Chemical control: In areas less mechanized, herbicide spray on regrowth 1 to 2 months after mowing during growth (early rainy season) allows, with an exclosure of several months and a stumping of rehabilitate infested pasture. Effective herbicides are 2,4-D and fluroxypyr. The appearance of discards is to be monitored, then process in 'spot'.
Biological control: Biological control has been undertaken since the early 19th century. Several control agents (insects, rust etc.) can reduce populations without eradicating (the case of New Caledonia where BC fell).