Plants shrubs, subshrubs, or herbs. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3-4. usually toothed. Inflorescences heads or spikes, each flowers subtended by a bract. Flowers: calyces truncate to shallowly toothed; corollas with narrowly cylindric tubes, limbs slightly 2-lipped, 4-5-lobed; stamens 4, included; ovaries 2-celled, each cell with 1 basal ovule; stigmas oblique. Fruits more or less fleshy drupes with a hard endocarp, 2-celled or splitting into 2 stones at maturity.
Lantana is a genus of about 150 species. Most are native to the tropical and subtropical Americas, a few to the Old World.