News Archive

Northland Regional Council Biosecurity Officer Ken Massey says Lantana camara is unwanted because of its poisonous characteristics and ability to grow to four-metre high dense stands to the exclusion of virtually all other plants.

Lantana camara is an aromatic prickly woody shrub with yellow, pink and orange flowers and Mr Massey says varieties of lantana have been grown in northern New Zealand as garden ornamentals since the 1850s.

He says the plant is a major problem plant overseas and has the potential for high economic and environmental costs in Northland too.  It is also poisonous to humans and stock.  Young children are very susceptible to any berries, sap, or foliage from poisonous plants.

Council Biosecurity Officers are keen to remove as many lantana plants as possible from Northland gardens in a bid to cut the amount of seed available to be spread by birds. 

Birds offer a common and easy mechanism for lantana’s abundant seed to spread to Northland’s reserve areas and roadsides, as well as poorly-grazed open pasture land.

Mr Massey says the NRC will target both Lantana camara and similar, smaller, sprawling shrubs with coloured flowers that have probably stemmed from cross-pollination propagation.

The problem with these cross-pollinated species is that they are able to revert back to Lantana camara.

A large infestation of the red-orange flower species (which is thought not to produce viable seed) has developed on the tip of the Purerua Peninsula, Kerikeri and is becoming a threat in its own right.

Mr Massey says increasingly warm climatic conditions in northern New Zealand are posing huge problems with a variety of tropical pest plants spreading at an alarming rate.

He urges families to have plants identified if they are unsure what is growing in their garden.

People keen to have plants identified and possibly removed should contact Mr Massey or other Council Biosecurity Officers on the Council’s freephone number (0800) 002 004.