S for "Spreading Sunset"

Common Name: Spreading Sunset, Lantana, Spanish Flag

Scientific Name: Lantana camara

Assamese Name: Goo phool

Spreading Sunset is a common flowering shrub in Assam, and it usually grows in the wild. The flower has a unpleasant smell and hence the Assamese name Goo (meaning shit) phool (meaning flower). For the same reason, people usually don’t have it in their home gardens. But we did have a couple of bushes in ours and we still have.

The flowers are yellow-orange in colour and spreads across the entire bush in clusters. May be that’s why it is called Spreading Sunset. Interestingly the flowers mature to rose-pink colour. It is known to attract butterflies.

The following pictures from home were sent by my mother just yesterday.