Lantana camara L. var. aculeata Moldenke                                                          Verbenaceae (Vervain Family)   Tropical America   Lantana   Moldenke

                                           April Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Hairy shrub to 6 ft. or more, armed with stout recurved prickles; lvs. opposite, ovate or oblong-ovate, 1-5 in. long, mostly short-acuminate, crenate-dentate, short-petioled, rather thick, rugose, scabrous above, pubescent beneath; heads dense, 1-2 in. across, flat topped, on stout axillary peduncles often longer than lvs.; bracts narrow, about half as long as corolla; fls. 1/4-1/2 in. long, usually opening yellow or orange but changing to red or scarlet; calyx very small; corolla somewhat irregularly 4-5 parted but not bilabiate, the tube slender; stamens 4, didynamous, attached midway in the tube, included; ovary 2-celled, becoming a fleshy drupe with 2 bony nutlets.

Habitat:  Tropical America north to Texas and south Georgia.  (Bailey 842).  Disturbed slopes, abandoned fields, urban weed below 200 meters.  Southern counties as a waif; naturalized  +/- worldwide; perhaps native to Caribbean.  (Hickman, Ed. 1086). Escape from cultivation.

Name:  Lanta-na, old Latin name, also applied to Viburnum which it resembles.  Camara, a South American name.  (Bailey 842).  Aculea-tus, prickly.  (Bailey 10).

General:  Rare in the study area, having been found only once and this near the toe of the bluff at Northstar Beach.  (my comment).        Lantana camara, has occasionally been used by natives for tea, however, the strong scent and flavor is not appreciated by most people.  (Meyer 172).       See Lantana camera for additional information on the species.  (my comment).      Approximately 150 species.  (Hickman, Ed. 1086).

Text Ref:  Bailey 842; Hickman, Ed. 1086; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 850.

Photo Ref:  April 95 # 18,19.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.

First Found:  April 1995.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 482.

Plant specimen donated to UC Riverside in 2004.

Last edit 8/8/05.

                                             April Photo