Common Lantana, Lantana camara, Jaffa, Oct. 31
Hidden in the middle of the Chinese Wedelia was this one stalk of Common Lantana, growing wild in Old Jaffa. At first I couldn’t believe it, and had to check and double check the cluster of pink flowers and the leaves against my other references to make sure this was an accurate identification. The flowers just didn’t look right. They were all pink and not the variegated ones I attribute to the Lantana plant. But after more research I decided that this little plant stem, most likely native to Central and South America, had found its way across the oceans to this little hillside in Israel. And it was in the middle of a dense mat of another plant that probably had at least one parent plant that also traveled from the Americas.
It is possible that this species of Lantana was native to Africa and its seeds were dropped on the hill by a bird, but only one of my references mentioned that Lantana was indigenous to that continent so that probably wasn’t what happened. The American Lantana was introduced to Israel prior to 1957 as an ornamental plant and is now so common in the wild that it is mentioned, although briefly, in a reference exclusive to wildflowers of Israel. The plant is spelled לנטנה ססגונית in Hebrew. Its Arabic name is وردة. The Israeli reference explained that English speaking people call this plant Spanish Flag, Red or Yellow Sage, or Wild Sage, making me wonder if its leaves smell or taste like the herb I put in my Thanksgiving turkey stuffing. The reference continues to say that the German name for the plant is Wandelröchen, and that the Dutch call it Wisselbloem.
Lantana is a small to medium woody shrub which escaped Israeli gardens and is sometimes found growing close to irrigated fields or orchards. Lantana is usually an annual, but it can survive a winter or a dry season for more than one year if protected. It is a “phanerophyte” shrub which means that its shoots and buds are above ground which make it vulnerable to drought or frost. Each plant has dentate or toothlike leaves which have serrated edges. The leaf stalks are 5 to 30 mm long and are egg-shaped with a broad end at the base. The leaves feel quite rough but their underside can be soft and hairy. The leaves grow opposite on the plant’s square stems that may be hairy, are rough to the touch, and are armed with short prickles. As the plant matures, the stems become round and turn grey or brown. As the plants grow they develop lots of branches that can be upright or arching, and can shoot up to 2 to 4 meters high. If supported by other plants, Lantana can also grow like a vine. In that case, a plant can reach up to 15 meters high!
The most striking thing about the Lantana plant is its dense flower clusters that emerge from stalks that originate in the leaf forks. Clusters consist of numerous tubular flowers that are from 9 to 14 mm long and 4 to 10 mm across, growing in two or three circles of varying color from white, cream, yellow, orange, red, pink and purple. Flowers also change color as they age forming over 100 different combinations of clusters with tons of variations. The flowers produce a lot of nectar which attracts butterflies, bees and birds. The fertilized flowers turn into a fleshy fruit which is green at first, but glossy and black or purplish when ripe. Individual berries are from 3 to 6 mm in diameter and each contain 1 or 2 seeds.
Lantana plants flower and fruit throughout the year but peak during the first two months of the rainy season. Ripe berries are eaten by birds which do not digest the seeds so they are spread near and far in their droppings. It has also been reported that sheep also eat the berries and spread the plant’s but this may or may not be true. Ripe berries may also be edible for human consumption, but then again, they may not. While several of my references say that the berries are toxic and can even kill small children, Prof. Julia Morton, the author of “Plants that Poison People in Florida” reports that native people have been eating ripe Lantana berries for centuries with no adverse effect. Others who have eaten the ripe berries say they are very sweet, crunchy and slightly aromatic. People also eat the flowers and make tea from the leaves. The flowers of the Lantana plant have an aromatic scent as well as producing the nectar that attracts pollinating butterflies, bees and birds.
The botanical name for the plant is Lantana camara because Europeans believed that it resembled a European plant that the Romans called Viburnum lantana. Viburnum, called the Wayfaringtree in the U.K., is an entirely different plant that is grouped in an entirely different family (Adoxaceae). It is native to Europe, Western Asia and North Africa but is now naturalized or invasive in parts of the United States. Lantana plants are in the Verbenaceae family and are mainly tropical flowering plants. The name of the species, camara, is the Latin word for “room”. The reason why it was given this name is unknown. Sometimes the plant is identified as Lantana camara L. In that case the L stands for Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), the Swedish scientist who formalized the naming of organisms and is known as the father of modern taxonomy.
It has been reported that the leaves of the Lantana camara plant are used for treating malaria, chickenpox, asthma, ulcers, swelling, eczema, tumors, high blood pressure, bilious fever, sores, measles, fevers, and colds. The oil extracted from its leaves by distillation is used externally for treating skin irritations, leprosy and scabies. It’s also an antiseptic for wounds and used as a laxative. Baskets and foot mats can be made from the Lantana plant’s long stems. Its stems are also good timber for starting a fire. The smell of the essential oil made from Lantana can make your home smell fresh and natural when added to your air filters, mopping water, or vacuum cleaner bags.
Unfortunately, the Lantana plant has caused major problems in tropical Australia and Africa, especially South Africa. Because of this, the Invasive Species Specialty Group (ISSG) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in Switzerland has placed Lantana on its 100 World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species list however, it has not reached invasive designation in Israel because it is not wet enough for the plant to propagate in significant numbers. It also might be too cold. In Israel it is merely considered a “naturalized” plant, which means that it is a plant of foreign origin that now grows on its own, producing a new generation without human aid. In the United States Lantana camara and in many places in the world, including my neighborhood, Lantana is an ornamental garden favorite because it has such pretty blooms. It is hearty, and also easy to grow.
The Lantana plant was brought to the European Continent and the U.K. almost as soon as European explorers discovered the Americas in 1492. It became a favorite garden ornamental because of its multicolored flowers, its ease of propagation and the hardiness of the plant. It was also easy to hybridize, and in the 1800s “Lantana Clubs” were formed and thrived for people wanting to display and share their plants. Colorful and interesting hybrids were created, shared and distributed worldwide.
European settlers carried Lantana with them as they moved into Africa, India and Australia. The Luo people of Kenya call the plant Magwagwa, the Shambaa – Bantu ethnic group of Tanzaina – call the plant Mjungwina; the Kikuyu, another bantu ethnic group of Central Kenya call the plant Mukenia. In the Luo language Lantana plants are called Nyabendwiny and the Ankole tribe in Uganda call the plant Ouhuuki. Lantana was introduced to South Africa in 1858 at Cape Town which has a Mediterranean climate unfavorable to widespread growth of the weed. But in 1883 it was introduced to Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province where it flourishes along the coast in subtropical conditions. Lantana is currently increasing its spread in provinces of subtropical parts of Mpumalanga and Llimpopo as well as in the north west Eastern Cape Gauteng and the southern part of the Western Cape. In Africa the impenetrable mats of the plant significantly reduce the continent’s potential for agricultural output. By 1946 Lantana was declared a noxious weed in Africa, and by 1998 it is estimated that it has infected over 2.2 million hectares, or about 5.5 million acres of land and will double its spread approximately every ten years.
The plant was also introduced to India and Australia where in areas of tropical subtropical climate, and without natural predators, it escaped gardens to invade natural ecosystems transforming the indigenous vegetation into impenetrable thickets of Lantana that obstruct waterways and reduce biodiversity. The plant is poisonous to livestock causing light sensitivity, loss of appetite, jaundice, liver and organ tissue damage and even death. In Australia and India the plant is responsible for loss of grazing lands resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars of productivity loss each year. Natural fires only seem to stimulate thicker regrowth. Fallen leaves of the plant produce allelopathic substances that prevent other plants from germinating so there is no undergrowth under the lantana thickets making sure there are monocultures of this alien plant.
Part of the reason for Lantana’s success lies with the plant’s ability to interbreed freely with different species creating new hybrids in the field that can adapt to a variety of growing conditions making it even more invasive. Hybridization is so continuous that has become difficult to even name the new plants. Efforts to introduce natural enemies from America such as Aceria lantanae, the Lantana Flower Gall Mite, or Alagoasa decemguflata, the Flea-beetle, bugs whose larva feed on the plant, are difficult because it is difficult to pinpoint the native home of the parent plant.
Low levels of soil water constrain the proliferation of the plant in Israel, but one reference hates the plant so much that it suggests complete extermination of Lantana by pulling each plant out by the roots to prevent resprouting, followed by treatment of the soil by herbicides like glyphosate to kill any seedlings that pop up. Glyphosate is a nasty, non-selective herbicide that kills most plants especially broadleaf plants and grasses. Applied to the leaves the chemical stops the plant from making certain proteins which disrupts the shikimic acid pathway needed for plant growth. The herbicide was registered for use in the U.S. in 1974 and comes in many forms including an acid and salts. Today there are over 750 products containing glyphosate for sale in the U.S.
Who could believe that what seems like such a lovely plant and a staple of many butterfly gardens in my neck of the world, would turn out to be such a dangerous, destructive invader in the tropics and subtropics? Who could believe that this little plant could grow so wild, and be hated so much in Australia and Africa? It reminds me of the Japanese Pig Weed that grew out of control in the backyard of my first house in Connecticut, and makes me rethink my motto that “Wildflowers are not Weeds”. This plant may not be a weed, but it is something worse. It is an invader, that is out of control in parts of the world where it never belonged and never should have been introduced to.
Using Glyphosate to kill Lantana is a very bad idea. This stuff is DANGEROUS! Read more to discover what I found out.
Glyphosate
Glyphosate was developed by Monsanto in 1970 and is the major active ingredient in Roundup. Products containing glyphosate contain other ingredients that can make the herbicide even more toxic. When using it to treat garden weeds, it can enter your body through your skin, your eyes or by breathing it in when applying. If you don’t wash your hands before eating, you might even swallow some of it. You can also ingest the chemical if you have been applying it or touching recently sprayed plants. The chemical has been tested by the EPA which did not find that it caused any developmental or reproductive harm to humans and considered it to be low in toxicity. However, in 2015 scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that Glyphosate is probably carcinogenic.
In 2018 Monsanto was ordered to pay $289 million to a California groundskeeper, Mr. Dewayne Johnson, and 5000 other claimants for failing to warn consumers that Glyphosate is a known carcinogen. Oxford University found that besides being a risk for cancer, Glyphosate also causes changes in human metabolism, and causes a systemic inflammatory condition, and conditions like diabetes. It may also increase incidences of celiac disease when applied to wheat crops, and may be a key contributor to obesity as well as other health problems like Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and infertility because it suppresses specific amino acids and bacteria in the human system, preventing them from managing essential nutrients needed in our bodies.
U.S. farmers have used Glyphosate to kill weeds before planting corn for feedstock for 40 years. They now spray their fields with it two weeks before planting to grow “Roundup-Ready GMO crops” speeding up the harvest of wheat, oats, barley and beans. The poison can persist in the soil in high levels for up to 6 months after application depending on the climate and soil types. Plants grown in soil treated with Glyphosate will contain some of it. This includes lettuce and carrots. Farmers also spray glyphosate on genetically engineered corn, oats, soybeans and wheat before harvesting it. For oats and wheat specifically, Glyphosate is sprayed on them to kill the crop right before harvesting which makes it easier to harvest the plants than waiting for them to die naturally. Glyphosate is also used on lawns and gardens including fields and parks where children play.
Organic farmers are not supposed to use Glyphosate at any point in food production, but traces of it may still be in the ground. Even so, my research is giving me even more reason to pay a little more money and buy organic vegetables, meat and fish.
Want to find out more about Glyphosate? Click on the resources below.
Ensia, “Why Farmers Are Using Glyphosate to Kill Their Crops – And What It Might Mean For You” 2017, https://ensia.com/features/glyphosate-drying/#:~:text=The%20glyphosate%20kills%20the%20crop,the%20onset%20of%20unfavorable%20weather.
Only Organic, “Glyphosate Facts Everyone Should Know,” https://www.onlyorganic.org/glyphosate-facts-everyone-should-know/
N?IC National Pesticide Information Center, “Glyphosate”, March 2019, http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/glyphogen.html
Cassandra Crosby, “RoundUp vs. Agent Orange: More Similar than You Think”, Hill & Ponton Disability Attorneys, https://www.hillandponton.com/weeds-not-worth-killing-with-roundup/
Want to find out more about Lantana? Below are resources that I used for this article:
Flowers in Israel, “Lantana camara, Lantana armata, Lantana aculeate” http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Lantanacamara_page.htm
O.P. Sharma, et al. “A review of the Toxicity of Lantana camara (Linn) in animals” Clin Toxical, 1981, Sep. 18 (9): 1077-94, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7032835/
Zizira, “Lantana Camara a Camouflages Treasure Trove – Benefits & Uses” 2020, https://www.zizira.com/blogs/plants/lantana-camara
James Cook University, “The tragic history of a pretty plant let loose”, https://www.jcu.edu.au/this-is-uni/natural-and-built-environments/articles/lantana-a-pretty-plant-let-loose
Missouri Botanical Garden, “Lantana camara”, https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a523#:~:text=Lantana%20camara%2C%20commonly%20called%20lantana,grows%203%2D6’%20tall
Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States, “Largeleaf lantana”, https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=3031
A.J. Urban, et al., “The Invasive ‘Lantana camara L.’ hubrid complex (Verbenaceae): a review of research into its identity and biological control in South Africa”, African Entomology 19 (2) 315-348, 2011 https://www.arc.agric.za/arc-ppri/Documents/Weeds/13%20Urban%20et%20al_Lantana.pdf
Sheldon Navie, Adkins, S., BioNet-Eafrinet Keys and Fact Sheets, “Lantana camara (Lantana)”, adapted from The Environmental Weeds of Australia https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/eafrinet/weeds/key/weeds/Media/Html/Lantana_camara_(Lantana).htm
NSW Department of Planning and Environment, “Lantana”, 2018, https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/pest-animals-and-weeds/weeds/widespread-weeds/lantana
Biogeography and Ecology in the Eastern Mediterranean, “General, Lantana camara L.” 2006,http://biogeography.free.fr/invasive_plants/lantana_camara.html
Green Deane, Eat the Weeds, “Lantana camara: Much Maligned Nibble”, https://www.eattheweeds.com/lantana-camare-much-maligned-nibble-2/