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Its flowers have been shown to yield eco-friendly natural dye for silk material and this

potential could also be very well utilized further (Rawat et al., 2004). Lantana has
demonstrated good compatibility in bonding with cement and thus its ligno-cellulosic

material could be utilized to prepare cement bonded particle boards of good strength suitable
for various industries (Ranjan et al., 2017).

It has also shown to provide raw material for paper making and thereby can reduce
pressure on other woody plant species (Priyanka et al., 2013). Ligno-cellulosic material

obtained from Lantana has also proven to be a good substrate for cultivation of edible Oyster

mushroom (Vats et al., 1994). All of these properties may promote livelihood of locals and
prove helpful in cost-effective management of this weed.

Bandi et al. (2018) utilized berries of Lantana to synthesize highly fluorescent nitrogen

doped carbon dots having low cytotoxicity and excitation dependent emission and thus could
2+
be utilized as multi-color bioimaging agent and also to detect Pb in water and human sera.
Seeds of Lantana could be utilized as animal feed and also as a potential source of edible oil
along with industrial applications by producing broad spectrum UV protectants (Embaby and

Mokhtar, 2011). Though utilization alone is not the only solution for its management, but
through many of these ecological approaches, problems arising by invasion of Lantana could

be subsided as a part of appropriate management strategy.

CONCLUSION
Lantana is an ornamental shrub with variable flower colors and termed as ‘Global

Invasive species’. It has invaded both natural and agricultural ecosystems in many parts of
Palaeotropics. Despite some negative effects observed in non-native regions of its invasion, it

possesses immense ethnomedicinal, ecological and economic potential; which if utilized in
proper manner; it could come up as an eco-friendly green bio-resource in myriad ways. It is

recommended that potential uses of Lantana for example, as biofumigant, bioherbicide,

biofuel production, phytoremediation, soil fertility enhancement, synthesis of green
nanoparticles, raw material for paper manufacturing, making furniture, dyes etc. should be

incorporated as a part of its management strategy which may benefit many local communities

by generating additional income and also for a sustainable future.

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