Roundtable Statement

Roundtable: SITEWORKS: Ecologies and Technologies

Lantana camara is a scrambling, thicket-forming plant with pretty flower clusters. Native to Central and South America, it was brought to Europe in the seventeenth century as a garden ornamental and diffused across the world in the wake of European colonialism. In Australia, lantana is deemed a “weed of national significance” due to its ability to aggressively colonise and seriously disrupt natural ecosystems. It is estimated that 5% of the continent is infested with lantana. A visit to Bundanon in 2007 exposed me to the exhilarating native bushland surrounding the farm, and the shock of decades of significant habitat degradation by lantana.

• Gary Warner, artist, Australia

Full text (PDF) p. 90-91