Lantana montevidensis

(Click image to Enlarge)

Photographs by: Dr. Maulik Gadani

«
»
  • Botanical Name : Lantana montevidensis (Spreng) Briq.
  • Synonyms : Lippia montevidensis Spreng.
  • Common Name : Trailing Lantana, Weeping Lantana, Creeping Lantana
  • Plant Family : Verbenaceae
  • Plant Form : Shrub
  • Occurrence (Special Areas) : Indroda Park, Aranya Van

About Lantana montevidensis Plant :

  • Habit : A trailing shrub with branches bluntly quadrangular, purplish-green in colour, pubescent with white hairs, nodes slightly swollen and annulate.
  • Leaves : Ovate, closely crenate at the margin acute at apex, decurrent into the petiole at base, scabrid and pubescent with white hairs on both surfaces, pubescent and green.
  • Inflorescence : Pedunculate, terete, pubescent having white hairs.
  • Flowers :
    • Bracteate, bracts ovate, entire and ciliate along margins, acute at apex, pubescent outside, glabrous within.
    • Bluish coloured flowers with a white patch in the centre.
    • Calyx glabrous within, pubescent outside.
    • Corolla tube tomentose, hairy within, slightly pubescent on both the surfaces.
    • Stamens with filaments white, glabrous, anthers yellow.
    • Ovary 2-celled with 1 ovule in each cell, style white, glabrous, stigma elongated, bluish-green.
  • Fruit : Shiny and black when ripe.
  • Flowering and Fruiting Time : November-February
  • Significance : Generally cultivated in gardens as ornamental.