Better Burnett

As I am discovering creeping lantana is one of those weeds that can cause a person to have nightmares.  How much do you know about creeping lantana?  I have been doing some reading of late and I have come across some very interesting facts about this invasive weed.

Luckily for me I have managed to obtain a copy of ‘The Creeping Lantana Handbook: a guide to ecology, control and management’ published in the late 1990’s.  If you have one you’ll know that they are full of valuable information and now out of print; hard to find as well.

The handbook includes the well-known definition for a weed – ‘a plant out of place’.  However, to become a serious weed a plant also needs the characteristics which enable it to take over.  These include the ability to live in a range of environments, rapid growth, continuous en masse seed production and easy dispersal.  Creeping lantana definitely checks most if not all of these boxes!

After rain you can see a mat of light purple creeping lantana flowers.  Similar to the common lantana, each flower head has several flowers. Each flower on this head can produce a seed about 8mm in diameter, round and green in colour until it ripens to glossy brown/purple-black.  Amazingly, each seed has the potential to produce two seedlings!  Creeping lantana can bounce back after the drought and grows in a range of environments.  This is what makes it such a successful invader.

Although there is also a sterile form of creeping lantana in Australia, the fertile, wild variety has become naturalised and has the potential to take over.  If you see a light purple groundcover, look a little closer - don’t let creeping lantana creep up on you!

Michelle - Project Officer

Densely flowering Creeping Lantana.

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Close-up of Creeping Lantana in flower