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Originally Posted by Nana2Teddy

Hmm… we purposely planted Lantana in our backyard landscape because it attracts butterflies, but not bees. We love it! Ours are small plants though. Very short and clustered together, not tall and spreading everywhere. The butterfly gardens in the villages purposely plants them too. I’ve never seen invasive lantana, not even in SoCal where we had it in our backyard. In fact, we struggled to get it to grow into a decent looking bush in California.

There are different kinds of lantana.



ScienceDirect

Lantana camara and several related species (L. indica, L. crenulato, L. trifolia, L. lilacina, L. involuerata, and L. sellowiance) are toxic ornamental shrubs. They are originally from tropical America, but have spread through many of the tropical and subtropical locations of the world. Its weedy nature and subsequent potential to poison livestock are exacerbated by its highly allelopathic nature that reduces alternative forage. Consequently, Lantana has dominated many plant communities. For example, in Fiji it is an aggressive weed that dominates nearly 50% of the available grazing land. Lantana infestations have been described in Australia, Asia, Africa, South America, North America, and many of the Caribbean and South Pacific islands. In grazing animals, Lantana-induced hepatotoxicity can cause high morbidity and mortality. Fatal poisoning has been reported in children ingesting green Lantana berries.