Lantana Linnaeus (1753: 626)

Cardoso, Pedro Henrique, Valério, Vanessa Imaculada Dos Reis, Neto, Luiz Menini & Salimena, Fátima Regina Gonçalves, 2021, Verbenaceae in Espírito Santo, Brazil: richness, patterns of geographic distribution and conservation, Phytotaxa 484 (1), pp. 1-43 : 13

6. Lantana Linnaeus (1753: 626) .

Subshrubs, shrubs or treelets, monoecious, branches with ou without prickles, often aromatic. Leaves petiolate, glands near to the petiole absent. Inflorescences axillary, simple, racemes capituliform, multiflorous, compact, rachis elongated or not in fructification; bracts spirally arranged, chartaceous, green or vinaceous; bracteoles absent. Flowers sessile; calyx tubular, shorter than the corolla, membranaceous, green, truncate or 2-lobed, each lobe rare 2-toothed, accrescent or not in fruit; corolla zygomorphic, 5-lobed, 2-labiate; stamens 4, included, didynamous, superior pair without connective appendages, thecae parallel; ovary 1-carpelate, 2-loculate, ovules 1 per locule, stigma oblique. Fruit a drupe, with 1 pyrene, brown, purple or black, external surface smooth or rugose.

Lantana is part of the tribe Lantaneae ( Marx et al. 2010) and has approximately 100 species distributed in the Neotropical Region ( Rotman 2009, Cardoso et al. in press.). The genus is characterized by the capituliform racemes, corolla 2-labiate, and fruit a drupe with 1 pyrene. There are approximately 30 species in Brazil ( Cardoso et al. 2019b), and the Atlantic Forest is the richest phytogeographic domain. Lantana is represented by 10 species in Espírito Santo, and is the richest genus of Verbenaceae in this state.

Lantana is morphologically similar to Lippia , and it can be very difficult to differentiate them. The morphology of the fruit is the only reliable character used in the delimitation of both genera: the species presenting aschizocarp fruit with 2 cluses or a drupe with 2 pyrenes are considered part of Lippia , while the species presenting a drupe with 1 pyrene belong to Lantana ( Silva & Salimena 2002) . However, phylogenetic analyses indicated that both genera are not monophyletic and must be recircumscribed in only one genus or fragmented in several genera ( Lu-Irving & Olmstead 2013).