Lantana camara is a flowering perennial shrub belonging to the verbena family, that can grow up to two metres tall. The shrub can easily transform into dense thickets, if left unchecked. It can cause serious problems if it invades agriculture land because of its toxicity to livestock.
It has now spread from its native tropical regions of Central and South America to around 50 different countries, where it has become an invasive species. It spread from the Americas into the rest of the world when it was brought back to Europe and cultivated by Dutch explorers. Soon Lantana camara began spreading into Asia and Oceania, establishing itself as a notorious weed.
It is now an established ornamental plant due to extensive selective breeding throughout the 17th and 18th Centuries, this has produced many different cultivated Lantana camara.
The small four petal flowers come in many different colours including red, yellow, white, pink and orange which differ depending on maturity and location. After pollination the colour of the flowers change (typically from yellow to orangish, pinkish, or reddish).
The fruit of Lantana camara is a berry-like drupe which turns from green to dark purple when mature, this is when they are eaten by birds and other animals. This in turn spreads the seed over large distances, facilitating the spread of Lantana camara.
The broad ovate leaves have a strong odour when crushed, the flower has a tutti frutti scent with a pepper undertone.
Insects attracted to this wild flower can be seen in the images below...
Papilio machaon. (Swallowtail)