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| Category: Shrub |
| Family: Verbenaceae (Vervains) |
| Origin: South America |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: White |
| Bloomtime: Year-round |
| Synonyms: [L. montevidensis 'Monma' ] |
| Height: 1-2 feet |
| Width: 8-10 feet |
| Exposure: Full Sun |
| Seaside: Yes |
| Summer Dry: Yes |
| Deer Tolerant: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 10-15° F |
| May be Poisonous (More Info): Yes |
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Lantana montevidensis 'Alba' (White Trailing Lantana) - A low-growing mat-forming plant that grows to 2 feet tall and trails to 10 feet with slightly-hairy green strongly-scented small leaves and puts forth a seemingly year-round display of numerous lightly-fragrant white flowers held in a circular head about 1 and 1/2 inches wide. The individual flowers, not quite 1/2 inch wide, have a yellow throat and open from the outside of the inflorescence first and then towards the center. It thrives in full sun or light shade and is drought tolerant, deer resistant, tolerant of seaside conditions and is hardy down to about 20 degrees F and can rebound from below ground from temperatures approaching 10°F (USDA Zone 8) . In cold weather the foliage can take on an odd blackish-purple cast. The purple species is a tough old time groundcover that blooms all the time in Southern California and this white form is just as good and as with the species, when in bloom attracts bees and butterflies. Deer also seem to leave it alone as do Lantana Lace Bug (Teleonemia scrupulosa, which plague the larger growing Lantana camara and L. hybrida selections. The species is native to South America from Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and southern Brazil and was first described in 1825 as Lippia montevidensis from a collection in Bolivia by the German botanist Curt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel but was reclassified as Lantana montevidensis by the Swiss botanist John Isaac Briquet in 1904. The name for the genus comes from a Latin name for plants in the genus Viburnum because of the similar inflorescence structure and the specific epithet comes from the location in Montevideo, Uruguay where the plant was found. This plant was also described as Lippia sellowiana in 1826 and has long been called Lantana sellowiana - this name to honor the German botanist Friedrich Sellow (or Sello) but Lantana montevidensis is considered correct. This white flowered form had been collected in the wild as early as 1944 in Brazil and was called forma albiflora and may be the same as the form Monrovia Nursery named 'Monma' and introduced in 1990. We have been growing this plant since 1992 and also grow the purple flowering form Lantana montevidensis.
This information about Lantana montevidensis 'Alba' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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