Common Australian Garden Weeds

Lantana camara

Scientific name: Lantana camara L.


Habit of lantana (Lantana camara).


The clustered tubular flowers of lantana.


An orange-red flowered form of lantana.


Lantana stem with opposite leaves and flowers produced on stalks coming from the leaf axils.


Seedling of Lantana showing the crenated leaf margins.


Lantana stem with developing and mature fruit on stalks emanating from the oppositely arranged leaf axils.

Synonyms: Camara vulgaris Benth.; Lantana scabrida Sol.

Common names: Lantana, common lantana

Family: Verbenaceae

Origin:

Native of tropical South America.

Habit:

A much-branched shrub that grows up to 4 m in height and forms dense thickets. Can also grow like a vine, in which case it can reach much greater heights if given support by other vegetation.

Habitat:

Occurs along roadsides, creekbanks, fence lines and in waste places. Sometimes in pastures and parklands. However, its most common habitat is in the understorey of open forests.

General description:

Stems and leaves

The young stems are usually green and square-shaped (quadrangular) in cross-section. They are rough to the touch, often armed with short prickles, and can be hairy. As they mature the stems become rounded and turn grey or brown in colour. The leaves are simple and oppositely arranged along the stem. They have leaf stalks (petioles) that are 5-30 mm long and a crenate or serrated (toothed) margin. The leaf blades are mostly egg-shaped (ovate) and are 2-12 x 1.5-7 cm in size. The texture of the leaf is quite rough (scabrous), however, the underside can be softly hairy.

Flowers and fruit

The flowers are borne in clusters 2-4 cm across. The individual flowers are mostly made up of a slender tube (9-14 mm in length) that opens into four or rarely five lobes at the top. These flowers may be a great variety of colours (ie. white, cream, yellow, orange, red, pink or rarely purple), depending on which form of the plant is concerned. A pink and an orange flowered form are shown here (right). Flowering occurs throughout most of the year, but mostly during the summer months. The fruit are fleshy (succulent) drupes that look like berries (5-8 mm in size). They are initially green but turn black or purplish-black when mature. Each fruit contains a single hard and stony seed that is 2-4 mm long.

Distinguishing characteristics:

A rough-textured, prickly shrub producing clusters of many small tubular flowers and black 'berries' (drupes). Lantana montevidensis (creeping lantana) is a closely related species but has a creeping (prostrate) growth habit. Also, this species does not have prickles or thorns and the weedy forms have purple flowers.

Noxious status:

Noxious in New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

More information can be obtained from the NRM pestfact on this species: (https://www.dnr.qld.gov.au).

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