Lantana camara, an ornamental plant and a member of family Verbenaceae, is a native to American tropics that has been expanding its boundaries in several regions of the world including India for over hundred years. The species was introduced as an ornamental plant in the Kolkata (India) initially, however it found an escape out into the agricultural and non-agricultural land in the country including Punjab. Due to various characteristic features of Lantana (high reproductive potential, prolonged persistence and viability of seeds and allelopathic interactions), the species has established itself strongly in various parts of Punjab threatening the existing biological diversity of the state. Lantana invasion has resulted in overall loss of forest cover in Punjab. Maximum Loss in forest cover due to Lantana invasion has been observed in the districts Hoshiarpur (40%) and Ropar (41%) followed by Gurdaspur (35%) in the state. The shrub is known to kill entire local forest fauna by causing massive fires or blocking natural reproductive cycle of forest trees. Introduction of various measures is the need of the hour to control the growth of the shrub in the state and protect the natural forest cover in the state.
