Environmental Information System (ENVIS) Centre

“My discovery of Lantana Furniture

In the United States, lantana is a favored ornamental plant. Its delicate inflorescences of red, yellow, orange, blue and pink grace the garden plantings of suburbanites throughout the country who flock to garden centers every spring and pay good money for cultivars with names like Miss Huff and Patriot Cowboy. In most of the country, winters are too cold for the plants to survive, so they remain annual adornments to our gardens.

In India, however, these non-native plants have become obnoxious and unwelcome guests, crowding out the scrub growth under forest trees and producing only toxic leaves that cannot be eaten by most animals.

I was therefore delighted to learn that a method had been developed by Dr. Maya Mahajan at Amrita University to manage these difficult plants. Unlike the gentle North American varieties, these fierce invaders grow study canes several feet in length which are harvested by hill station tribals who then use them to construct attractive rustic furniture. The furniture is quite cheap and very sturdy, the undergrowth of lantana is successfully managed, and the tribals have a new source of revenue. Everybody wins.

When I heard about this furniture, I made a trip to Amrita, where Dr. Mahajan and some of her assistants showed me the pieces on hand and took measurements for special-use items. At the end of what could be called a very long day (due to the weather interference on the cane harvesting), I had eighteen pieces at a total cost of less than  40,000 rupees. These include armchairs, armless chairs, coffee tables, a settee, a bed, bookshelves, and more. The commissioned pieces didn’t always come out the way I had intended, but they are all useful and attractive. Everything has been admired by friends around the globe.

Lantana furniture has allowed me to help with a forest management project, to provide income to tribals, and to buy attractive cane furniture at a very low price. It has been a happy discovery.”

Jon William Bauer