The delimitations of Lantana depressa and L. ovatifolia are reviewed using field studies, common garden plantings, morphology, chromosome numbers, and artificial hybridization. Thir- teen morphological characters were incorporated in a principal components analysis. Lantana de- pressa, a diploid (2n = 22), is restricted to native vegetation on dunes, coastal prairies, and limestone ridges in peninsular Florida. The species comprises three varieties. Lantana depressa var. floridana, comb. nov., and L. depressa var. sanibelensis, var. nov., previously had been unrecognized and treated as elements of L. ovatifolia. Lantana ovatifolia, a tetraploid (2n = 44), is endemic to Grand Bahama Island. Confusion between the species involves naturalized L. camara, a tetraploid (2n = 44), which has hybridized with L. depressa. The triploid (2n = 33) hybrids resemble L. ovatifolia and form a morphological continuum between the parental taxa. Lantana L. is a genus of shrubby species com- monly encountered in the mesic to xeric wood- lands of the New World tropics and subtropics. Certain species are conspicuous floristic ele- ments because they display yellow-to-red mul- ticolored head-like spikes. The genus is distin- guished from its closest relative, Lippia L., by having the two-seeded endocarp surrounded by a mesocarp that is juicy rather than dry or corky. This character may have evolved more than once, rendering Lantana polyphyletic. However, sect. Camara Cham., comprising about 14 species, is apparently monophyletic because the species share at least five putative synapo- morphies relative to Lippia and its close rela- tives (Sanders in press).
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Roger W. Sanders (1987) studied this question.