Lantana camara, also known as big-sage (Malaysia), wild-sage, red-sage, white-sage (Caribbean) and tickberry (South Africa), is a species of flowering plant within the verbena family, Verbenaceae, that is native to the American tropics. Lantana Camara is a small perennial shrub that grows approximately 2m tall, and forms dense thickets in a variety of environments.
Due to extensive selective breeding throughout the 17th and 18th Centuries for use as an ornamental plant there are now many different L. camara cultivars.
Benefits
According to a published medical review on the medicinal properties of lantana, its leaves are used for treating malaria, chickenpox, asthma, ulcer, swelling, eczema, tumor, high blood pressure, bilious fever, measles, fever, colds, and high blood pressure.
Threats
Lantana camara will often outcompete other more desirable species, leading to a reduction in biodiversity. It can also cause problems if it invades agricultural areas as a result of its toxicity to livestock as well as its ability to form dense thickets which if left unchecked can greatly reduce the productivity of farmland. The active substance causing toxicity in grazing animals is pentacyclic triterpenoids which results in liver damage and photosensitivity.