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 An
Illustrated Guide to
Common Weeds
of New Zealand
Lantana
camara
lantana
Family
VERBENACEAE
Reproduced from
Common
Weeds of New Zealand
by Ian Popay, Paul Champion & Trevor James
ISBN 0 473 09760 5
by kind permission of the
New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
Publication or other use of images or descriptive
text on these pages is unauthorised unless written permission is
obtained from the authors and publisher.
Appropriate acknowledgement
of the publication Common Weeds of New Zealand must always
be given.
Available from Nationwide Book Distributors
Branched, pleasant-smelling,
hairy, somewhat prickly perennial shrub up to 3 m tall in warm places
in North Auckland. Small, tubular flowers in tight bunches, of variable
colour, usually changing from cream or yellow to pink, purplish-pink
or rose.
- Flowers Rose
and yellow, up to 1 cm in diameter, fragrant. Corolla tubular,
with four backward-curved lobes, in dense inflorescences on slender
stalks up to 10 cm long in the leaf axils. Flowers Jan-Dec.
- Fruit
Poisonous, juicy round drupes (berries) about 5 mm in diameter.
Drupes initially green, ripening to deep purple or black.
- Leaves In
opposite pairs, crinkled, with rough hairs on the upper surface,
soft hairy underneath. Leaves bluntly-toothed, egg-shaped or heart-shaped,
up to 13 cm long by 7 cm wide, on stalks up to 2 cm long.
- Stems Square,
with a pithy core. Erect to spreading or scrambling, usually with
curved-back prickles.
Habitat
Road-sides and waste
places in warm districts.
Distribution
NI only, locally abundant
on the north-west shore of Hokianga Harbour, occasional elsewhere
in North Auckland, Auckland (Rangitoto Island) and Bay of Plenty
(as far east as Opotiki district). Originally from tropical America.
Comments
In many parts of the
tropics, this species is a dangerous weed, being poisonous
to livestock, although it has never been a problem in NZ. Lantana
camara var. aculeata, the most common variety of
lantana found growing wild in NZ, with cream and pink flowers,
is listed on the National Pest Plant
Accord (see Introduction for details). Other forms and species
of Lantana are common garden plants.
Derivation
of botanical name
Lantana (Lat.)
= viburnum, named for its similar foliage; camara South
American name.
Web-notes:
Weed Links
On this site
Reproduced from Common Weeds
of New Zealand:
External Links
 Weedbusters
New Zealand
- Weedbusters is a weeds awareness and education programme that aims to
protect New Zealand's environment from the increasing weed problem.
- AgPest
- A free tool to assist farmers and agricultural professionals in decision-making regarding weed and pest identification, biology, impact and management.
 New Zealand Weeds Key
- An interactive identification key to the weeds of New Zealand. Developed at Landcare Research.
New
Zealand Plant Conservation Network naturalised plants
- Search for information on more than 2500 naturalised and weedy plants.
 New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
- Their main objective: "To pool and exchange information on the biology
of weeds, invertebrate and vertebrate pests, pathogens and beneficial organisms
and methods for modifying their effects."
-
 Massey
University Weeds Database- A site providing information about New Zealand weeds and weed control.
It has a series of pages showing pictures of New Zealand weeds, notes on
identification and control. It also provides information on a university
paper entitled Controlling Weeds.
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