| Gazania rigens | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Gazania |
| Species: | G. rigens |
| Binomial name | |
| Gazania rigens | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Gazania rigens (syn. G. splendens), sometimes called treasure flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to coastal areas of southern Africa. It is naturalised elsewhere and is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant.
Gazania rigens is a spreading, low-growing, half-hardy perennial, growing to 50 cm (20 in) tall and wide, with blue-grey foliage and brilliant yellow, daisy-like composite flowerheads throughout the summer. It is a herbaceous plant that is perennial in South Africa and in the Mediterranean regions, and annual in the gardens of colder regions. It rarely exceeds 30 cm (12 in) and forms tufts, often very abundant. Its leaves all basal, numerous, narrow and more or less lanceolate, usually entire, sometimes pennatilobed. The obverse of the leaves is shiny green, the lapel grayish white.
Like all compounds, gazania flowers in flower heads that are often taken for simple flowers. The capitula are solitary at the end of peduncles just beyond the leaves. Each capitulum is formed by a central disc of tubular flowers, surrounded by ligulate peripheral flowers, whose color is very variable. The orange-yellow flowers are however the most numerous, often with black spots at the base of the ligules. The fruit is an achene, containing several seeds.
Well adapted to the Mediterranean climate, it is native to South Africa and Mozambique. It has become naturalised on the Mediterranean shores, and in places like the Azores, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, California, and Argentina. The generic name of the plant is dedicated to Theodore of Gaza (1398-1478), who translated the botanical works of Theophrastus, from Greek to Latin.[ citation needed ] It is a weed in the islands of Madeira, Sicily and Sardinia[ citation needed ].
In Australia, where it is known as coastal gazania, the species has become naturalised on coastal dunes and roadsides in the Central Coast and Sydney regions of New South Wales as well as the coast of South East Queensland. In South Australia it is found in the southern Mount Lofty area as well as on the Eyre peninsula. [1] [2]
Gazania rigens is grown for the brilliant yellow of its blooms which appear against blue-grey foliage in the late spring and throughout the summer. Plants prefer a sunny position and are tolerant of dryness and poor soils. Quite indifferent to the nature of the soil, it looks especially for the sun, its flower heads closing when it is in the shade or when the weather is overcast. It adapts well to drought, heat and strong sun, unlike many other flowers. [3] [4]
Flowering from March to October in the northern hemisphere, the flowers are however more numerous and larger in the spring. [5] In temperate regions this plant is usually grown as a half-hardy annual, though it can tolerate light frosts. [3]
The currently recognised varieties are: [6]
Aponogeton distachyos or Aponogeton distachyum, also known as waterblommetjie, Cape-pondweed, water hawthorn, vleikos and Cape pond weed is an aquatic flowering plant.
Gazania is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Southern Africa.
Kniphofia uvaria is a species of flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae, also known as tritomea, torch lily, or red hot poker, due to the shape and color of its inflorescence. The leaves are reminiscent of a lily, and the flowerhead can reach up to 1.5 m (5 ft) in height. There are many varieties of torch lily, and they bloom at different times during the growing season. The flowers are red, orange, and yellow.
Cotyledon orbiculata, commonly known as pig's ear or round-leafed navel-wort, is a South African succulent plant belonging to the genus Cotyledon.
Gazania linearis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, with thin linear leaves, native to South Africa.
Gorteria is a genus of small annual herbaceous plants or shrubs that is assigned to the daisy family. It includes 12 species native to eastern and southern Africa, ranging from Ethiopia to South Africa. 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.
Acacia rigens, commonly known as nealie, is an erect or spreading shrub or small tree that is endemic to Australia. Other common names include needle wattle, needlebush acacia, nealia and nilyah.
Ilex mitis is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, straight and dense.
Baeometra is a genus in the family Colchicaceae containing a single species, Baeometra uniflora. It is native to South Africa, where it is commonly called beetle lily due to the dark markings on the tepals.
Arctotheca populifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names beach daisy, Cape beach daisy, South African beach daisy, coast capeweed, dune arctotheca, beach pumpkin, sea pumpkin, dune cabbage, and in South Africa, seepampoen, tonteldoek, and strandgousblom. This species is native to coastal areas of the Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and of Mozambique. It was introduced to Australia and is now a common weed of coastal areas in New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia.
Gazania krebsiana 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.
Euclea crispa, commonly known as the blue guarri, is an Afrotropical plant species of the family Ebenaceae. The hardy and evergreen plants may form a dense stand of shrubs, or grow to tree size. It is widespread and common in the interior regions of southern Africa, and occurs northward to the tropics. Though some are present near the South African south and east coasts, they generally occur at middle to high altitudes. It is readily recognizable from its much-branched structure and dull bluish foliage colour. Those bearing lanceolate leaves may however resemble the Wild olive, another common species of the interior plateaus.
Gasteria bicolor is a species of succulent flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae, native to the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
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".
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 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 rigens at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Gazania rigens at Wikispecies