Lantana

Lantana camara is a sprawling shrub native to the West Indies and from Mexico through tropical America, reaching one to six feet. Rough aromatic leaves are toothed and opposite, and flat-topped clusters of small tubular flowers open in yellow, orange, pink and red — often several colours in one head as individual florets age. Berry-like drupes ripen metallic blue-black. The colour shift within each flower head is a signal to pollinators: florets change colour after pollination, directing butterflies to the fresh ones. Its unripe green berries are seriously toxic to children and dogs, and in Florida, Hawaii and much of the tropics the species invades natural areas — so plant a sterile cultivar, which sets almost no seed or fruit and flowers harder for it.