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Lantana
पंचफूली (panchphuli)
A thorny shrub carrying flat heads of tiny flowers that change colour as they age, so one head is yellow, orange and pink at once. It is not native to India and spreads at the expense of everything around it.
How to recognise it
Rough sandpapery leaves with a strong smell when brushed, and the two-tone flower head. It lines forest roads, ravine edges and abandoned terraces.
Where to see it
Dehradun
Introduced as a garden plant in the nineteenth century, lantana now covers a large share of India's dry and moist deciduous forest and crowds out the grasses that deer and cattle graze. Forest departments across the Himalayan foothills run clearance programmes against it, and some craft cooperatives weave furniture from the cut stems.
Lachhiwala Nature Park · Maldevta · Rajaji National Park
Mussoorie
Introduced as a garden plant in the nineteenth century, lantana now covers a large share of India's dry and moist deciduous forest and crowds out the grasses that deer and cattle graze. Forest departments across the Himalayan foothills run clearance programmes against it, and some craft cooperatives weave furniture from the cut stems.
Jharipani Falls · Bhatta Falls · Pari Tibba (Witch's Hill)
Rishikesh
Introduced as a garden plant in the nineteenth century, lantana now covers a large share of India's dry and moist deciduous forest and crowds out the grasses that deer and cattle graze. Forest departments across the Himalayan foothills run clearance programmes against it, and some craft cooperatives weave furniture from the cut stems.
Neelkanth Mahadev Temple · Neer Garh Waterfall · Garud Chatti Waterfall