photosensitivity – Forage Me Not

Lantana

Published July 26, 2016

Lantana

Common name: Lantana, wild sage

Scientific name: Lantana species, Lantana camara is the most commonly encountered

Hazard associated: Leaves and fruit poisonous if ingested.

Notes:

Members of the verbena family.
Lantanas are grown in gardens for their attractive often multi-hued flowers. They are also grown to attract insects such as bees and butterflies.
The berries formed from the flowers are initially green, turning black when ripe.
Dogs have been known to be poisoned by eating the leaves, and the berries may be attractive to children.
They are regarded as an invasive weed in many parts of the tropical and temperate zones.

Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantana

Image credits:

By そらみみ – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50255193

By Vengolis – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50091176

The information provided by this web site is offered in good faith, but please note that the author accepts no responsibility for its complete accuracy. Nor does the author accept any responsibility for any use that you make of this information or any consequences arising from the use of this material. Failure to mention a plant on this web site does not mean it is safe to use, eat or touch. Almost any plant can be injurious under some circumstances e.g. life stage of the plant, part eaten, amount consumed, whether cooked or raw. Any given plant can have different effects on different people as determined by age, genetic makeup, general health and many other factors.

Why use scientific names when they are hard to pronounce and/or hard to spell? What is wrong with common names? Well your common name for a plant is not necessarily the same as the next person's. Mountain Ash is a eucalypt in Australia but a rowan tree in Europe; the name lily is commonly used for many unrelated plants some of which are extremely toxic. Same thing with the common name nightshade.

Scientific names are the same worldwide, no matter what the local language(s) and also they indicate the grouping of species into genera which shows relationships.