Lantana montevidensis (Spreng.) Briq.

Trailing Shrub Verbena; Polecat Geranium

Shrub

Perennial

Vascular

Trailing Shrub Verbena is an introduced woody perennial shrub in the Verbena family (Verbenaceae). It is native to South America. In Alabama it is widely planted and has escaped primarily in the southern half of the state. Trailing Shrub Verbena occurs on roadsides, on vacant lots, and in urban forests. It is a perennial with a tap root. Stems are arching to decumbent, 1-3 feet in length, rough pubescent, green in color, and 4-angled in cross section. The stems will root at the nodes when in contact with the soil. Leaves are opposite, petiolate, elliptic, lanceolate, ovate, or rhomboid in outline, pubescent, with crenate margins. The leaves have an unpleasant odor when crushed, and an alternate common name for this specie is “polecat-geranium”. Flowers are produced in head-like spikes from the axils of the leaves. Unlike in most other Lantana species in the flora, the inflorescence axes of Trailing Shrub Verbena are not thickened or spongy. The flowers are subtended by a whorl of green bracts that are broadly elliptic, broadly ovate, or reniform in outline. The corolla is 4 lobed. Flower color ranges from lavender through white or yellow. The fruit is a 2 seeded berry that becomes dark purple or black at maturity. Trailing Shrub Verbena is drought, heat, and salt tolerant and well as deer resistant. It is often planted as a ground cover. Trailing Shrub Verbena is listed as an invasive species in Florida.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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