Lantana camara L.

Taxonomy: Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Lamiales > Verbenaceae > Lantana > L. camara

Description: Aggressive bushy shrub about 3-12 tall. Branches 4 angular, armed with densely hirsute, recurved prickles or scabrid. Leaves opposite, simple, lanceolate-ovate, cordate or ovate-oblong, 3-9 x 1.5-6 cm across, base attenuate, cuneate or rounded, margin serrate or crenate, apex acuminate, coarse chartaceous and dark green on the dorsal side, densely resinous-punctate and sparsely pubescent on veins beneath, lateral veins 4-6 on either side of the midrib, Petiole about 0.5-3.5 cm long with inconspicuous prickles, exstipulate. Inflorescence cylindric spike or subumbellate, axillary 1 x 1-1.5 cm, Peduncle slender 3-7 cm long with inconspicuous prickles, bracts oblong or lanceolate, ciliate along the margins, pubescent outside. Flowers sessile, zygomorphic, Calyx copular, subentire, about 4 x 2 mm across, membranous, pubescent. Corolla hypocrateriform, 5 lobed, 2 lipped, orange, pinkish red, purple, scarlet red, lower and midlobes subrotund, lateral lobes obtuse, Corolla tube narrow curved, pubescent. Stamens 4, didynamous, filaments about 1 mm long, anthers yellowish, ovoid about 0.5 mm long, Ovary conical about 1 mm long, style stout about 3 mm long, stigma obliquely subcapitate. Fruit drupe ovoid, about 3-5 mm in diameter, green and fleshy purplish black when ripe.

Flowering and Fruiting : Blooms throughout the year

Uses : Folk medicine,Leaves used against flu, yellow fever, dysentery, jaundice, coughs. Roots are used for gonorrhea. Wood is used for making toys, also a substitute of Bamboo for making various kinds of furniture providing source of livelihood for many tribes of the forests.

Cultivated : Cultivated, ornamental, Wild

References

http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org

https://indiabiodiversity.org