Felicia elongata

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Felicia elongata
Felicia elongata Helme 1.jpg
Felicia elongata Helme 2.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. Neodetris
Species:
F. elongata
Binomial name
Felicia elongata
Synonyms
  • Aster elongatus, Agathaea elongata, Felicia elongata(Thunb.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod
  • Aster elongatus var. thunbergii
  • Agathaea tricolor, Aster tricolor

Felicia elongata is a perennial plant of up to 40 cm (1+13 ft) high that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has stiff, oval, opposing leaves with one distinctive vein and entire margin. The 5 cm (2 in) wide flower heads are very conspicuous in colour, white with a dark purple zone at the base of the ray florets and an orange-yellow disc. [2] Flowering occurs from late August to September, or if the rains arrive late, sometimes October. It is a rare species that is restricted to the Saldanha Bay area. It is sometimes called Saldanha felicia or tricolour felicia in English, and driekleurblommetjie in Afrikaans. [3] [4]

Contents

Description

The involucre Felicia elongata Vynbos 1.jpg
The involucre

Felicia elongata is an upright perennial herbaceous plant with a woody base, of up to about 40 cm (1+13 ft) high. Its leaves are oppositely arranged along the stem, oval in outline and rigid, 3–4 cm (1+151+35 in) long and 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) wide, with one central vein, rarely two additional veins can be seen. The margin of the leaf is curled downwards, densely roughly hairy on upper side, while the lower surface may lose some of its hairs over time, and is gray-green in colour. [2]

The flower heads are about 5 cm (2 in) across and sit individually on top of about 15 cm (rarely to 20 cm) long, dense velvety hairy stalks. The involucre is almost 2 cm (45 in) in diameter, and consist of two strict rows of bracts of about 8 mm (0.31 in) long, more or less fringed at the tip. The outer bracts are narrowly lance-shaped, and 0.8 mm (0.031 in) wide, the inner bracts are lance-shaped and about 1 mm (0.039 in) wide, one-ribbed, losing its hair with time. The numerous female ray florets have a milky white, rarely magenta strap of about 17 mm (23 in) long and 312 mm wide, near the base with a dark purple zone. Many bisexual, disc florets with an orange-yellow corolla of about 6 mm (14 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. Around the base of the corolla are many white pappus bristles of about 6 mm (14 in) long. The dark brown, dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruits called cypselae are ellips- to inverted egg-shaped, about 3 mm (0.12 in) long and 1.2 mm (0.047 in) wide, with a marginal ridge, while the surface has some weak scales and is evenly covered in 0.2 mm (0.0079 in) long hairs. [2]

Felicia elongata is a diploid having eight sets of homologue chromosomes (2n=16). [2]

Taxonomy

The Saldanha felicia was first described by Carl Thunberg in the year 1800, in the second volume of his book Prodromus Plantarum Capensium, based on a specimen he collected himself in 1772 during his three-year stay in the Cape Colony, and he named it Aster elongatus. In 1833, Nees von Esenbeck thought that its should be moved to another genus and he made the combination Agathaea elongata. Aster elongatus var. thunbergii was distinguished by William Henry Harvey in 1865. Karl August Otto Hoffmann reassigned Thunberg's species and made the combination Felicia namaquana in 1905. Harry Bolus and Anthony Hurt Wolley-Dod were not aware of Hoffmann's combination and claimed it for themselves in 1950. In 1973 Jürke Grau considered all of these name synonymous. The species is considered to be part of the section Neodetris. Aster elongatus var. candollei described by William Henry Harvey in 1865 however, has now been assigned to Felicia namaquana . [2]

Distribution, habitat and ecology

The Saldanha felica can only be found growing on limestone ridges and coastal sands, alongside the Langebaan Lagoon, and edging the Vredenburg Peninsula to Paternoster in the north. The flower heads appear to be mainly pollinated by bees. Within one month of opening, the flower heads develop into seedheads. It may grow in the vicinity of the Cape daisy, Dimorphotheca pluvialis , blue flax, Heliophila coronopifolia or in the shade of rooi malva, Pelargonium fulgidum or dikbeen malva, P. gibbosum . After flowering and setting seed, the plants die back and survive the long hot summer as short, leafless woody stumps. These start growing as soon as the winter rains arrive. [5] It occurs in vegetation types called Langebaan Dune Strandveld, Saldanha Flats Strandveld, Saldanha Granite Strandveld and Saldanha Limestone Strandveld. [4]

Conservation

Felicia elongata is considered a vulnerable species, because the total population comprises less than 2000 mature individuals, divided over eight subpopulations, and is in decline due to recreational developments. [4]

Use

Felicia elongata is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental and is can be grown quite easily. It grows very well in well-draining garden soil. [3]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Felicia rosulata</i> A perennial plant in the daisy family from Southern Africa

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

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Felicia annectens is an annual plant of up to about 25 cm (10 in) high, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. The lower leaves are opposite and the higher leaves alternate. The bloated involucre consists of very broad, hairless bracts. These protect up to ten, short, bluish ray florets that encircle yellow, partly sterile disc florets. The heads sit individually on top of up to 6 cm long stalks. The species was considered extinct after no observations were made after 1915, but was rediscovered in the 21st century. It occurs in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

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.

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.

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.

<i>Felicia mossamedensis</i> A plant in the daisy family from southern Africa

Felicia mossamedensis or yellow felicia is a well-branched, roughly hairy, annual or perennial plant of up to 30 cm (1 ft) high, assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has alternately arranged, seated, flat to slightly succulent, broad-based, entire, blunt tipped leaves. The flower heads sit individually on top of a stalk of up to 8 cm (3 in) long, have an involucre of three whorls of bracts, many yellow ray florets and many yellow disk florets. It can be found in southern Africa, in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa and on the coast of Angola.

Felicia cana is a low and slender shrublet of up to 15 cm high, covered in white felty hairs, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has alternately arranged leaves, and flower heads of about 16 mm (0.63 in) across, with 3–4 whorls of involucral bracts, and about 20 blue purple ray florets, surrounding many yellow disc florets in the centre. Very characteristic for the species are also the middle-long hairs with forked tips on the surface of its fruits. It is an endemic species that is restricted to a zone along the southern coast of the Western Cape province of South Africa.

<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 elongata (Thunb.) O.Hoffm". The Plant List.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Grau, J. (1973). "Revision der Gattung Felicia (Asteraceae)". Mitteilungen der Botanischer Staatssammlung München. IX: 528–529. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  3. 1 2 Liesl van der Walt. "Felicia elongata". SANBI PlantZAfrica.
  4. 1 2 3 "Felicia elongata". SANBI Red List of South African Plants.
  5. van der Walt, Liesl (2002). "Felicia elongata - A West Coast daisy" (PDF). Veld & Flora. 88 (3): 108–110.