India GO
Tree · Acacia mearnsii
Black wattle
IUCN LC · Least concern
An Australian tree planted across the hills for fuel and tannin that has since spread on its own into the montane grassland, where it shades out everything beneath it.
How to recognise it
Dense dark stands with fine feathery foliage and creamy ball-shaped flowers, standing exactly where open grassland should be. Young plants form a thicket too dense to walk through.
Protection
Listed as a major invasive species in these hills
Where to see it
Munnar
Wattle invasion is named in the IUCN assessment as one of the drivers behind Neelakurinji's Vulnerable listing, and it is squeezing the Nilgiri pipit's grassland at the same time. It is worth pointing out, because a wall of wattle photographs like forest and is not.
Top Station · Kundala Lake · Meesapulimala