Lantana angolensis Moldenke

angolensis: of Angola

Perennial herb or small shrub, up to c. 1.5m tall. Stems woody at the base, somewhat 4-angled; branchlets with long, tubercle-based whitish hairs, spreading bristles and scattered sessile glands. Leaves mostly opposite, rarely 3-whorled, petiolate, more or less broadly ovate, 3-9 cm long, light green, somewhat bristly with tubercule-based hairs and impressed venation above, paler and more densely softly hairy with raised venation below; margin with 16-28 teeth. Inflorescences in axillary ovoid spikes, up to 15 cm long, with leaf-like overlapping bracts. Flowers lilac, mauve, pink or purple with a yellowish throat; corolla tube 5-6 mm long. Fruit a drupe, c. 3.5 × 3 mm, lilac to dark purple hen ripe.

Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mpumalanga, South Africa.