| Gazania linearis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| The flowers of Gazania linearis are plain yellow, sometimes with dark spots at the base of the ray florets. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Gazania |
| Species: | G. linearis |
| Binomial name | |
| Gazania linearis | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
| |
Gazania linearis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, with thin linear leaves, native to South Africa.
Gazania linearis is a clumping perennial herb. The leaves are usually slender and linear in shape, and are usually simple (but can sometimes also be slightly pinnate). The lower leaf margins are rough and spiny-to-ciliate. The upper leaf surface is dull green while the undersides are white woolly/tomentose. The leaves have long, winged petioles and form basal rosettes at the ground around the short branching stem. (Unlike the type variety of G. linearis, which has linear leaves, the rare variety G. linearis var. ovalis has more oval shaped leaves. It is however only known from a small area near Grahamstown.) [2]
The plant produces large, solitary daisy-like flower-heads that are invariably bright yellow. The ray florets may have dark spots near the bases, curl upwards along their edges, and close at night. The involucre is subcupuliform or obtusely bell-shaped (campanulate) in shape. Both the involucre and scape can be glabrous or setose. There are usually some parietal bracts arranged around the involucre. Of the terminal involucre bracts, the outer row is linear with setose-ciliate margins, while the inner row is acuminate with membranous-entire margins. The fruit is a tiny achene covered in very long hairs several times the length of the fruit body. [3] [4] [5]
Gazania linearis is very similar in its morphology to Gazania krebsiana , Gazania ciliaris , Gazania pectinata , Gazania rigida and others. It is partially distinguished from other Gazania species by a mixture of several characteristics: [6]
Gazania linearis var. linearis (with linear leaves) is indigenous to the southern and eastern parts of South Africa, where it occurs from the Eastern Cape (Humansdorp) in the west, eastwards to KwaZulu-Natal Province.
Gazania linearis var. ovalis (with more oval-shaped leaves) is restricted to a small area near Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape. [7]
Mixed Gazania cultivars, sometimes identified as G. linearis, have also taken hold as an introduced species in other parts of the world with similar climates, such as in California and New Mexico in the United States; Australia; and New Zealand, where they have been classified as a weed. [3] The plants typically grow on grassy and rocky hillsides. [8] They are also classified as invasive in some areas, including California. [8]
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture. Typically, they also look different from the parts of the flower, such as the petals or sepals. A plant having bracts is referred to as bracteate or bracteolate, while one that lacks them is referred to as ebracteate and ebracteolate, without bracts.
Gazania is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Southern Africa.
Felicia amelloides, the blue daisy bush or blue felicia, is a hairy, soft, usually perennial, evergreen plant, in the family Asteraceae. It can be found along the southern coast of South Africa. It grows as ground cover and produces many very regular branches. It mostly grows to about 50 cm (1.6 ft) high, rarely to 1 m. The leaves are oppositely arranged along the stems, dark green in colour and elliptic in shape. The flower heads sit individually on up to 18 cm (7 in) long, green to dark reddish stalks. They consist of about twelve heavenly blue ray florets that surround many yellow disc florets, together measuring about 3 cm across. It is also cultivated as an ornamental, and was introduced in Europe in the middle of the 18th century.
Gorteria is a genus of small annual herbaceous plants or shrubs, with 8 known species, that is assigned to the daisy family. Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and are surrounded by an involucre, consisting of in this case several whorls of bracts, which are merged at their base. In Gorteria, the centre of the head is taken by relatively few bisexual and sometimes also male, yellow to orange disc florets, and is surrounded by one complete whorl of 5–14 infertile cream to dark orange ray florets, sometimes with a few ray florets nearer to the centre. None, some or all of them may have darker spots at their base. The fruits remain attached to their common base when ripe, and it is the entire head that breaks free from the plant. One or few seeds germinate inside the flower head which can be found at the foot of plants during their first year. The species flower between August and October, except for G. warmbadica that blooms mostly in May and June. The species of the genus Gorteria can be found in Namibia and South Africa.
Corymbium is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family comprising nine species. It is the only genus in the subfamily Corymbioideae and the tribe Corymbieae. The species have leaves with parallel veins, strongly reminiscent of monocots, in a rosette and compounded inflorescences may be compact or loosely composed racemes, panicles or corymbs. Remarkable for species in the daisy family, each flower head contains just one, bisexual, mauve, pink or white disc floret within a sheath consisting of just two large involucral bracts. The species are all endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, where they are known as plampers.
Gazania krebsiana is is a species of flowering plant in family Asteraceae. It is a low-growing herbaceous perennial native to Southern Africa, ranging from Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique to South Africa. It is one of some 19 species of Gazania that are exclusively African and predominantly South African - only Gazania krebsiana subsp. serrulata (DC.) Roessler ventures northwards from the Transvaal into tropical Africa.
Gorteria diffusa is a highly variable, small annual herbaceous plant or rarely a shrublet that is assigned to the daisy family. Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and are surrounded by an involucre, consisting of in this case several whorls of bracts, which are merged at their base. In G. diffusa, the centre of the head is taken by relatively few male and bisexual yellow to orange disc florets, and is surrounded by one complete whorl of 5–14 infertile cream to dark orange ray florets, sometimes with a few ray florets nearer to the centre. None, some or all of them may have darker spots at their base. The fruits remain attached to their common base when ripe, and it is the entire head that breaks free from the plant. One or few seeds germinate inside the flower head which can be found at the foot of plants during their first year. The species flowers between August and October. It is called beetle daisy in English and katoog in Afrikaans. It can be found in Namibia and South Africa.
Felicia macrorrhiza is a small, evergreen shrub in the family Asteraceae. This species grows in the Karoo region of South Africa. It is called Aspoestertjie in Afrikaans.
Felicia amoena is a variably hairy, sometimes glandular, biennial or perennial plant, of about 25 cm (10 in) high, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It is somewhat woody at its base, roots at the nodes if these contact the soil, and has ascending branches. The leaves are oppositely arranged along the stems at and just above a branching fork, further up the leaves alternate. The flower heads sit individually on up to 12 cm long stalks. They are 2–3 cm in diameter and consist of about twelve to twenty five heavenly blue ray florets that surround many yellow disc florets. Three subspecies have been recognised, that differ in width of the leaves and the involucral bracts, the size of the heads and number of ray florets and in having glandular hairs. These can be found in coastal sands and inland areas in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. Flower heads can be found from June till October.
Gazania lichtensteinii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to South Africa and Namibia. On the SANBI Red List, it is listed as "safe".
Felicia tenella is an annual, sometimes biennial, herbaceous plant that may be slightly woody at its base, of 5–70 cm tall, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. The species is very variable in size and hairiness. Its branches may be erect or ascending, and the leaves are narrowly line-shaped, 2–5 cm long and about 1 mm (0.04 in) wide. The leaves have a callous tip, lack visible nerves, and are mostly rigidly ciliate. The flower heads sit individually at the tip of stalks, have an involucre of three whorls of bracts, and about thirty light blue ray florets surrounding many yellow disc florets. Four subspecies are recognised. The species naturally occurs in the Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces of South Africa.
Symphyotrichum ontarionis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to eastern North America. Commonly known as Ontario aster and bottomland aster, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach heights of 120 centimeters. Each flower head has many tiny florets put together into what appear as one.
Felicia is a genus of small shrubs, perennial or annual herbaceous plants, with 85 known species, that is assigned to the daisy family. Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and which are surrounded by an involucre of, in this case between two and four whorls of, bracts. In Felicia, the centre of the head is taken by yellow, seldom whitish or blackish blue disc florets, and is almost always surrounded by one single whorl of mostly purple, sometimes blue, pink, white or yellow ligulate florets and rarely ligulate florets are absent. These florets sit on a common base and are not individually subtended by a bract. Most species occur in the Cape Floristic Region, which is most probably the area where the genus originates and had most of its development. Some species can be found in the eastern half of Africa up to Sudan and the south-western Arabian peninsula, while on the west coast species can be found from the Cape to Angola and one species having outposts on the Cameroon-Nigeria border and central Nigeria. Some species of Felicia are cultivated as ornamentals and several hybrids have been developed for that purpose.
Verbesina centroboyacana is a species of shrub in the family Asteraceae endemic to Colombia.
Gazania heterochaeta is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to South Africa and Namibia.
Gazania ciliaris is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native predominantly to the Western Cape province, South Africa, where it occurs from Vanrhynsdorp to the Eastern Cape near Joubertina.
Gazania pectinata, the cockscomb Gazania, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the lower-lying regions and coastal plains of the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Gazania rigida, the "Karoo Gazania", is a species of flower native to the Western Cape and Northern Cape Provinces of South Africa.
Gazania serrata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces, South Africa.
Gazania maritima is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Western Cape province, South Africa.
Media related to Gazania linearis at Wikimedia Commons