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Lantana camara — Verbenaceae. Shrub native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, now naturalized in many warm regions of the world, where it colonizes edges, rocky slopes, wastelands, and roadsides in full sun.
It forms a dense and spreading bush, reaching 50 to 150 cm in height depending on the climate. The stems are slightly thorny, the leaves oval, rough to the touch, a deep green, releasing a strong and characteristic odor when crushed. The tiny flowers are grouped in compact hemispherical umbels about 3 to 4 cm in diameter. Their most striking feature is their color change as they develop: yellow or pink in bud, they turn orange then bright red, so that a single capitulum simultaneously displays several shades. Cultivars offer a palette ranging from creamy white to carmine pink, from orange to brick red.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends practically all year round. In cultivation under our latitudes, it runs from May until the first frosts. It requires full sun, well-drained soil and perfectly withstands heat and summer drought. Sensitive to frost, it can nevertheless be maintained in open ground with careful winter protection, and vigorously regrows in spring from the base. Its black fruits, fleshy drupes, are toxic.