The highly invasive tree, Senna spectabilis, has been removed from around 400 hectares of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) since January of this year, said officials from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department.
The tree, which is estimated to have spread over 1,500 hectares of the tiger reserve in just the last few years, decimates native forests and local ecology, and is believed to have been introduced to the landscape by four private estates in MTR, who had begun growing them as ornamental trees.
Officials said that the Madras High Court had ordered the removal of the tree, due to the impact it has to local ecology from both Mudumalai and Sathayamangalam Tiger Reserves.
