Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis has been called out by an invasive weed expert for “making things up” after Mr Vatskalis claimed he is in the process of changing official council documents because he doesn’t like the facts they contain about Poinciana trees.

Mr Vatskalis was on ABC Radio on Tuesday where he again touted his plan to plant Poinciana trees along roads because he likes how they look this time of year.

However, the Poinciana tree is on a council list of “trees recommended not to be planted” because council considers it an “environmental weed”.

Mr Vatskalis said he was “arguing” with council staff about the declaration.

“I asked her to remove it and they will remove it,” he said.

“If it is a declared a weed, I’m the first one to say it’s a declared weed, end of story. I’m not going to plant here Mimosa because Mimosa is a declared weed, but Poinciana is not a declared weed, never been a declared weed in Northern Territory or in any other states.

“There is only one person who wrote somewhere in a study that put, ‘it has potential weeding tendencies’.”

What council wrote in a document about a “resilient urban forest” was that Poinciana was an “environmental weed” and not to be planted in Darwin.

Invasive weed expert and botanist Tim Low told the ABC this morning that Mr Vatskalis’s attitude was problematic and what he was saying was untrue.

“The mayor has got to be held to account for what he is saying because most of what he said in the interview … just wasn’t true,” he said.

“I mean, he’s just making things up.”

Poinciana trees, sometimes called “Flame Trees”, are native to Madagascar and in recent years have been classified as “environmental weeds” in North Queensland and North Western Australia due to their ability to overtake native trees. They have also been known to “choke” natural rainforests, killing them from the inside.

Mr Low, who has written extensive books on invasive plant species, said Mr Vatskalis’s comments were “unbelievable” and compared his claims about Poinciana not being a weed to claims from decades ago that introducing cane toads would be good for Australia.

He also raised concerns about the example Mr Vatskalis was setting for others who might not abide by laws and recommendations on plants and vegetation.

“We’ve already been through all of this and he sort of says… it’s like it’s back in the 50s or 60s, I haven’t heard this kind of talk for so long – it’s really quite remarkable,” Mr Low said.

“It sets an incredibly bad example because you’ve got the Government of the Northern Territory saying to landholders, ‘you’ve got to control Gamba grass, you’ve got to control Mimosa’ and here’s the mayor saying ‘it’s [Poinciana] not really a weed and I’m going to get it taken off [council’s list]’. What kind of example is he setting?”

He suggested Mr Vatskalis watch a 2018 Gardening Australia segment where Larrakia Nation rangers pulled Poinciana bushes north of Darwin in order to re-generate the rainforests with native species, as Poinciana can damage rainforests and “eat away” at them from the inside.

“So, if you’ve got a mayor who’s denying that and saying ‘let’s plant them’, he’s no friend of the rainforests around Darwin,” Mr Low said.

He added that council’s list of approved trees was long and should be relied on when considering what to plant, especially trees that can be controlled, “where the seeds are not going to rush down in gulleys after heavy rains and sprouting up everywhere”.

“Your council staff have produced the report, it’s just the mayor at the top trying to tell council to ignore part of what the council is doing,” he said.

Mr Vatskalis’ office was contacted for comment but did not respond to the NT Independent.