Lantana camara L.
Lantana, largeleaf lantana, common lantana, kamara lantana, wild sage, red sage, yellow sage, white sage, shrub verbena
Lantana is native to Mexico, parts of the Caribbean, Central America, Venezuela, and Colombia. It has been introduced as an ornamental plant to many other tropical and subtropical areas of the world, where it has become naturalized and, often, invasive. There are many cultivars.
Plants: Evergreen shrubs, 3–4′ (91–121 cm) high (rarely up to 6′ (1.8 m)) and 1–3′ (30–91 cm) around, able to grow higher still by clambering over other plants.
Leaves: Opposite, 2–5 ⨉ 1–2″ (5–12 ⨉ 2.5–5 cm), rough-surfaced, ovate, with crenate edges. Stems and leaves are hairy. When crushed, they emit an unpleasant odor, likened, among other undesirable odors, to cat urine.
Flowers: Hemispherical umbels 1–2″ (2.5–5 cm) in size. Each umbel is composed of flowers that are ¼–⅜″ (6.3–9.5 mm) around, 5-petaled, held in neat, crowded, undeniably beautiful arrays. Making them even more attractive is their spectrum of colors, ranging from whites to yellows to pinks to oranges to reds to purples, mixed within even single umbels and changing in color as they age. They bloom from July to first frost, and nearly continuously in frost-free areas.
Fruits: Purple-black drupes (berries), ~3/16″ (5–6 mm) in size.
Habitats: Savanna, bushland, forests margins and gaps, riparian zones, agricultural areas, grasslands, disturbed sites.
Edibility: Poisonous 
Foliage is poisonous to people, as well as to grazing
animals. It contains alkaloids, called pentacyclic triterpenoids, that cause liver damage and photosensitivity. Berries are edible when ripe;
poisonous when unripe.
Online References:
8/16/2009 · Joan & Jim’s, Mansfield, Massachusetts · ≈ 5 × 3½″ (13 × 9.2 cm) 
ID is uncertain 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 6 × 4½″ (14 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain 
5/24/2009 · Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona · ≈ 2½ × 2″ (6.2 × 5.9 cm) ID is uncertain 
4/10/2015 · Big Cypress National Preserve Visitor Center, Florida · ≈ 8 × 6″ (19 × 16 cm) 
5/24/2009 · Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona · ≈ 4½ × 3″ (11 × 7.9 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/16/2009 · Joan & Jim’s, Mansfield, Massachusetts · ≈ 5 × 8″ (13 × 19 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 2½ × 1½′ (79 × 53 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 10 × 7″ (25 × 16 cm) ID is uncertain 
5/6/2014 · American Southwest (AZ or TX) · By Jacquelyn Boyt 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain 
5/25/2009 · Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Superior, Arizona · ≈ 3 × 2½″ (8.4 × 7 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 15 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/29/2010 · Public Garden, Mansfield, Massachusetts · ≈ 2 × 1′ (62 × 41 cm) ID is uncertain 
4/10/2015 · Big Cypress National Preserve Visitor Center, Florida · ≈ 1 × 1′ (38 × 31 cm) 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 15 cm) ID is uncertain 
4/10/2015 · Big Cypress National Preserve Visitor Center, Florida · ≈ 11 × 7″ (28 × 18 cm) 
8/16/2009 · Joan & Jim’s, Mansfield, Massachusetts · ≈ 4½ × 3″ (11 × 7.9 cm) ID is uncertain 
8/31/2013 · Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 8 × 5″ (19 × 12 cm) ID is uncertain 
Can anybody identify the moth? · 8/31/2013 · Butterflies Live! Exhibiit, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, Virginia · ≈ 9 × 7″ (22 × 17 cm) ID is uncertain 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Asteridae | A large class that encompasses asters |
| Order | Lamiales | Aromatic herbs and shrubs, including lavender, lilac, olive, jasmine, ash, teak, snapdragon, sesame, psyllium, garden sage, mint, basil, and rosemary |
| Family | Verbenaceae | Verbena (vervain) family, about 3,000 species |
| Genus | Lantana | Latin for “viburnum,” whose flowers look somewhat similar |
| Species | camara | A South American vernacular name for lantana |
Lantana camara description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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