Lantana canescens Kunth (1818: 259)

Cardoso, Pedro Henrique, Valério, Vanessa Imaculada Dos Reis, Neto, Luiz Menini & Salimena, Fátima Regina Gonçalves, 2021, Verbenaceae in Espírito Santo, Brazil: richness, patterns of geographic distribution and conservation, Phytotaxa 484 (1), pp. 1-43 : 14-15

6.2. Lantana canescens Kunth (1818: 259) . (Figs. 2A, 5G)

Shrubs 1‒2 m high, branches tetragonal, without prickles, sericeous, glandular sessile trichomes present. Leaves opposite, petiole 0.5‒1 cm long; blade 4.5‒9.8 × 1.3‒4 cm, chartaceous, narrow-ovate to lanceolate, apex acuteacuminate, base truncate to cuneate, decurrent along the petiole, margin entire or serrate, ciliate, adaxial surface opaque, strigose, smooth, abaxial surface tomentose, glandular sessile trichomes present. Inflorescences 8‒9 mm long, rachis elongated up to 3 cm long in fructification, 1‒2 per axil, peduncles 0.9‒3 cm long, sericeous, glandular sessile trichomes present; bracts unequal, external 6.5‒8 mm long, ovate, internal 4‒5.2 mm long, narrow-ovate, abaxial surface sericeous, glandular sessile trichomes present, margin ciliate; calyx ca. 1 mm long, inconspicuously 4-toothed, externally sericeous, accrescent in fruit; corolla 6‒7 mm long, white. Fruit ca. 3 mm long, brown, external surface striate, surrounded by the persistent calyx.

Distribution and habitat:— Lantana canescens presents neotropical distribution, and is found in all regions of Brazil, in the Amazon Forest, Caatinga, Cerrado, and Atlantic Forest ( Silva 1999, Silva & Lima 2012, Silva et al. 2020). It is recorded for the first time in Espírito Santo, occurring in the seasonal semideciduous forest and dense rainforest. It was collected outside SPAs in this state.

Phenology:— Collected with flowers and fruits in January, May, April, and October.

Preliminary conservation assessment: —This is a common species with a wide distribution ( Silva 1999, Silva & Lima 2012), and occurs inside PAs in South America. Considered “Least Concern” (LC) ( IUCN 2019).

Selected material:— BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Alegre , 14 October 2008, fl. and fr., V . C . Manhães & D. R . Couto 142 ( MBML, VIES); Atílio Vivacqua , 26 April 2007, fl., L . Kollmann et al. 9724 ( MBML); Baixo Guandu , 13 April 2013, fl. and fr., L . Kollmann et al. 12639 ( MBML) .

Notes:— Lantana canescens can be distinguished from the other species of the genus by the branches without prickles, sericeous, and white corolla. It is similar to Lantana achyranthifolia Desfontaines (1829: 392) , a species distributed throughout the Northeast and Center-West Brazilian regions ( Silva et al. 2020), but is differentiated by the peduncles shorter than the leaves and two basal bracts larger than internal ones (vs. peduncles longer than the leaves and four or five basal bracts larger than internal ones in L. achyranthifolia ).

Illustrations in Silva & Lima (2012).