Felicia dregei

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Felicia dregei
Felicia dregei Murray 3.jpg
Felicia dregei Murray 1.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Felicia
Section: Felicia sect. Lignofelicia
Species:
F. dregei
Binomial name
Felicia dregei

Felicia dregei is an evergreen, glandular shrub of up to 112 m (5 ft) high, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has flat, finely felty, grayish green, narrowly elliptic to lance-shaped leaves of up to 4 cm (1+12 in) long and 8 mm (13 in) wide, with an entire margin or here and there with up to ten teeth. The flower heads have about ten violet ray florets, encircling many yellow disc florets. This species grows in the Northern Cape and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. [2]

Contents

Description

Felicia dregei is an evergreen, upright, up to 112 m (5 ft) high shrub, and is very woody near its base, where it is covered with a brown, peeling bark. The older branches have elongated, indistinct short shoots, and end in long shoots. The leaves are alternately set, narrowly elliptic to lance-shaped, up to 4 cm (1+12 in) long and 8 mm (13 in) wide, and get much smaller higher up. Most leaves have an entire margin, but there are also leaves with up to ten short teeth. The leaf surface is gray-green and velvety, due to short glandular and bristly hairs on both leaf surfaces. Rarely, the leaves do not have glands but only short bristles. [2]

The flower heads sit individually on top of a short stalk at the top of the long shoots. The peduncles are up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long, with few bracts, especially at the top mostly with glandular hairs. The involucre is up to 134 cm (0.7 in) in diameter and consists of three to four rows of bracts. These bracts are overlapping, densely glandular, and have a papery margin in particular above the middle. Around ten female ray florets have violet ligules of about 15 mm (35 in) long and 2 mm (0.079 in) wide. They encircle numerous bisexual yellow disc florets, with a yellow, often tinged reddish brown, corolla of about 7 mm (0.28 in) long. In the center of each corolla are five anthers merged into a tube, through which the style grows when the floret opens, hoovering up the pollen on its shaft. At the tip of both style branches is a narrowly triangular appendage. Around the base of the corolla are numerous, yellowish white, short-toothed, persistent pappus bristles, which are all of the same length, up to about 6 mm (14 in). The dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruits called cypselae are dark brown with a yellowish brown ridge along the outline, elliptic, about 312 mm long and 112 mm wide, thinly silky haired but densely hairy on the edge, and the hairs seldom wear off. [2]

Taxonomy

As far as known, Felicia dregei was first collected for science by Johann Franz Drège in 1830, and described by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1836. William Henry Harvey reassigned the species and made the combination Aster dregei in 1865. Karl August Otto Hoffmann distinguished a variation with somewhat deeper incised leaves as Felicia dregei var. incisa in 1905. In 1973 Jürke Grau considered these names synonymous. F. dregei is considered part of the section Lignofelicia. [2]

Distribution and habitat

Felicia dregei can be found in Little Namaqualand in the north to Saldanha and the Mountains bordering the Karoo in the west, South Africa, where it grows on dolorite koppies and slopes. [3]

Conservation

The continued survival of Felicia dregei is considered to be of least concern because its population is stable. [4]

Related Research Articles

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Felicia wrightii is a low, up to 20 cm (8 in) high, perennial, herbaceous plant with conspicuous basal leaf rosettes, and runners that end in rosettes. It has narrow bracts along the inflorescence stalks on top of which are individual flower heads with an involucre of three whorls of bracts, about sixteen ray florets with about 1 cm long, pale blue straps, that encircle many yellow disc florets. No fertile seeds have been found, so this species may solely reproduce vegetatively. The species is only known from one location in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg, where it grows on damp stream banks.

<i>Felicia bergeriana</i> A annual plant in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia bergeriana is a richly branching, hairy annual plant of up to 25 cm (10 in) high that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has opposite leaves and flower heads set individually on up to 8 cm long stalks, that consist of an involucre of about 12 cm diameter with two whorls of bracts, about twelve blue ray florets surrounding more yellow disc florets. It is sometimes called kingfisher daisy in English. It can be found in the Northern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. It is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental.

Felicia westae is a sparsely branched shrub growing up to 40 cm tall, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. The lower parts of the stems have lost their leaves and the upper part has many crowded, upwardly angled and curved, alternate leaves pressed against the stem, with the edges curled inward. The flower heads form at the tips of the branches, each about 313 cm across, with about twenty purplish blue ray florets surrounding many yellow disc florets. It is only known from a small area in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

<i>Mairia burchellii</i> Perennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

Mairia burchellii is a tufted perennial plant of up to 15 cm (6 in) assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has narrow leaves of up to 5 mm (0.20 in) wide, with single main vein and an entire margin. Flower heads only occur after a fire has destroyed the standing vegetation, mostly in November or between February and June. The flower heads sit individually or with a few on the tip of a purplish stalk, with a few narrow bracts, and consist of a row of pinkish ray florets around many yellow disc florets. It can be found in the southwest of the Western Cape province of South Africa.

<i>Mairia petiolata</i> Perennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

Mairia petiolata is a tufted, variably hairy, perennial plant of up to 15 cm (6 in) assigned to the family Asteraceae. Its leaves are in a ground rosette, and have a stalk of mostly 2–5 cm long and an inverted egg-shaped to elliptic, 612–9 cm (2.6–4.6 in) long and 2–3 cm wide leaf blade, with a toothed margin. It mostly has two flower heads at the tip of the branches of each erect, dark reddish brown scape. The flower heads have a bell- to cup-shaped involucre that consists of 20–24, purplish, overlapping bracts in 3–4 whorls. These protect 12–16 pink, ray florets, surrounding many yellow disc florets. This species was only seen flowering once, in December. It is known from one location in the Langeberg, Western Cape province of South Africa.

Felicia clavipilosa is an upright, richly branched shrub of up to 60 cm (2 ft) high, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has alternately arranged leaves, and flower heads with 3–4 whorls of involucral bracts with many yellow disc florets in the centre. Very characteristic for the species are the short club-shaped hairs on its fruits. There are two subspecies. Subsp. clavipilosa has narrowly lance-shaped entire leaves with one vein and pale mauve ray florets. Subspecies transvaalensis has lance-shaped leaves with one or three veins and white ray florets. The species occurs in southern Africa, with subsp. clavipilosa having a western distribution in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, and subsp. transvaalensis restricted to the east, from Zimbabwe, through Botswana to South Africa. The subspecies transvaalensis is sometimes called pokkiesblom in Afrikaans.

Felicia smaragdina is an annual, bristly and glandular, much branched plant of up to 40 cm high, that has been assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has seated, slightly succulent, line-shaped leaves of up to 3 cm long and about 1 mm (0.04 in) wide. Its flower heads sit individually at the tip of the branches, and contain about twenty yellow ray florets of about 8 mm long and 112 mm (0.06 in) wide, surrounding many yellow disc florets. A unique character is that when dried, the florets become greenish. The species is an endemic species of Namibia.

<i>Felicia tenella</i> A annual or biennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

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.

References

  1. "Felicia dregei DC". The Plantlist.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Grau, J. (1973). "Revision der Gattung Felicia (Asteraceae)". Mitteilungen der Botanischer Staatssammlung München. IX: 319–321. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  3. Snyman, D.A. (2013). "Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region, volume 2: The Extra Cape Flora". Strelitzia (30): 292.
  4. "Felicia dregei". SANBI Red List of South African Plants.