Kantutay (Lantana camara L)

A gregarious, erect or half-climbing, somewhat hairy aromatic shrub; when erect, usually 1.2 m high and when scandent, twice as high. Branches four-sided with recurved prickles.

• Leaves: ovate, 5 to 9 cm long, pointed at the tip and rounded at the base and toothed in the margins.
• Flowers: pink, orange, yellow, white, lilac and other shades, according to the variety and borne in stalked heads which are 2 to 3.5 cm in diameter. Calyx small. Corolla tube slender, the limb spreading, 6 to 7 mm wide, and divided into unequal lobes. Stamens 4, in 2 pairs, included. Ovary 2-celled, 2-ovuled.
• Fruits: Sweet tasting drupaceous fruit; purple or black, fleshy ovoid, and about 5 mm long.

Distribution A gregarious weed in the Philippines. Certain varieties are cultivated as a trimmed hedge either alone or with other shrubs.

Constituents Leaves: volatile oil, 0.2%. Dried flowers: volatile oil, 0.07% – caryophyllene-like bicyclic terpene, 80%, l,a-phellandrene, 10-12%. Bark: Lantanine, 0.08%.

Parts utilized and preparation

• Leaves, bark, roots, flowering tops.
• May be collected throughout the year.
• Sun-dry.

Characteristics and Pharmacological Effects

• Root: sweet and bitter tasting, refrigerant, antifebrile.
• Leaves: minty tasting, cooling natured, antiphlogistic, anti-dermatoses.
• Flowers: sweet tasting, mildly cooling, hemostatic.

Medicinal uses

• Influenza, cough, mumps, incessant high fever, malaria, cervical lymph node tuberculosis: use 30 to 60 gms dried roots or 60 to 120 gms fresh roots in decoction.
• Fever: Take decoction of bark or infusion of leaves and flowering tops as tea.
• Hemoptysis, pulmonary tuberculosis: use 6 to 9 gms dried flowers in decoction.
• Dermatitis, eczema, pruritus: use fresh stems and leaves.
• Rheumatism – Spread oil on leaves, warm over low flame and apply on affected part.
• Sprains, wounds, contusions: Use pounded fresh leaves applied as poultice.