Trees & Plants

Sleeper weed

Kashikothan

Lantana camara L.

Grown as a garden plant; getting established in natural habitats. Garden plant. The leaf juice is used as an insect repellent. Th reat & damage: The species poses serious threat in most of the tropical ecosystems. Lantana spreads through seeds and vegetative means. Birds and othe

Details

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uses: Garden plant. The leaf juice is used as an insect repellent. Th reat & damage: The species poses serious threat in most of the tropical ecosystems. Lantana spreads through seeds and vegetative means. Birds and other small animals consume and pass the seed in their droppings spreading it far and wide. Mature plants can produce up to 12,000 seeds annually. Seeds remain viable for several years under natural conditions. Management: Up-rooting or continuous weeding is suitable in small infestations. Glyphosate is effective as an overall foliar spray. Fungal pathogens like Prospodium tuberculatum and Puccinia lantanae have been identified as potential biocontrol agents.
family: Verbenaceae
synonym: Lantana urdulata Raf.
description: Gregarious straggling shrubs; an stem 4-angled, armed with short thorns. Th Leaves 3-6 × 2-4 cm, ovate or elliptic-ovate, base subcordate or truncate, margin creneate- serrate, apex acute to shortly acuminate, scabrous above, puberulous below; petiole to 1.5 cm long. Inflorescence terminal and axillary condensed spikes; peduncle 3-4 cm it long, shortly prickly. Flowers sessile with wide to range of colour variations. Calyx truncate. for Corolla salver-shaped; tube 0.8-1 cm long, slender; lobes 5. Stamens 4, included. Ovary 2-celled; stigma subcapitate. Drupe 2-3 mm across, globose, purple on ripening.
distribution: Widely naturalised in the tropics and subtropics.
english names: Sleeper weed · Wild sage
flowering fruiting: Th roughout the year. Native Range: Tropical America
occurrence maldives: Grown as a garden plant; getting established in natural habitats.