Lantana blooms from spring to fall with small but bright flowers that change color with age. Flower colors include white, yellow, orange, red, pink and purple, often mixed in the same cluster. The tubular-shaped, four-lobed flowers are grouped tightly into rounded, flattened or domed, terminal heads.
Lantana plants will blossom profusely in full sun. The flowers tend to come in waves, all blooming at once, and then a slight dormancy while another wave of new flowers develop.
The first flowers to open are usually yellow, sometimes such a light shade of yellow that it may look white. As more new yellow flowers open, the older ones begin to turn darker.
The yellow color is produced by the orange pigment ‘ß-carotene’. As soon as the yellow flowers get pollinated, the petals start to synthesize the red pigment ‘anthocyanin’.
The post-pollination shift in petal coloration is caused by the masking of ß-carotenoids by differential amounts of anthocyanin and a changing cellular pH. As pollinators are attracted to only yellow flowers, chromatic changes play a role in conserving pollinator energy.