Felicia filifolia

Last updated

Felicia filifolia
Felicia filifolia.jpg
Felicia filifolia subsp. filifolia
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Felicia
Section: Felicia sect. Lignofelicia
Species:
F. filifolia
Binomial name
Felicia filifolia
Synonyms
  • Diplopappus filifolius (Vent.) DC.
  • Diplostephium teretifolium (Less.) Nees
  • Diplopappus teretifolius Less.
  • Aster filifolius Vent.

Felicia filifolia is a Southern African member of the family Asteraceae. It is a hardy, sprawling shrub growing to about 1 metre tall. Leaves are narrow (filifolia = threadlike leaves) and clustered along the twigs. When blooming it is densely covered in flowerheads with ray florets that are pink-mauve to white and disc florets that are yellow. In the wild, flowers can be found August to December. [1]

Contents

The species is widespread over mountainous areas, commonly found growing amongst rocks. It is suspected of causing haemorrhaging when ingested by sheep. [2]

Naming

Felicia filifolia is called "fine-leaved felicia", "needle-leaved felicia", or "wild aster" in English, draaibos in Afrikaans and sehalahala-seseholo in the Sesotho language. [3]

Description

flower head of subsp. schaeferi showing the involucral bracts with reddish tips and the pappus Felicia filifolia Peter Warren 1.jpg
flower head of subsp. schaeferi showing the involucral bracts with reddish tips and the pappus

Felicia filifolia subsp. filifolia is a mostly strongly branched and woody, largely hairless, medium-sized shrub of 60–150 cm (24–59 in) high. It has a dark blackish brown, often slightly fibrous bark. The leaves are alternately set, clustered on short shoots or uniformly arranged on long shoots, hairless or woolly only on the upper side of the leafbase. The leaves are more or less succulent, narrowly needle-shaped, 8–30 mm (0.31–1.18 in) long and approximately ½ mm (0.02 in) in diameter, usually with distinctly callous tip, more or less wrinkled, and with resin vessels on the inside. [4]

The flower heads are on the short shoots or at the tip of the long shoots, medium-sized, seated or on up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long stalks. The involucre is 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) in diameter, and consists of three to four whorls of bracts. These bracts are overlapping, lance-shaped, hairless, tawny to greenish in colour with the tip often tinged red. They have a papery margin more or less set with a regular row of hairs. The outer bracts are 1½ mm (0.06 in) long and ½ mm (0.02 in) wide, those in the middle 3 mm (0.12 in) long and 1 mm (0.04 in) wide, and the inner 5 mm long and ½ mm wide. Each head has ten to fifteen female, medium or light purple, rarely white, ray florets of about 1 cm long and 1½ mm wide. These surround numerous bisexual yellow, later burgundy-washed disc florets of 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long. The two style branches each have a long triangular appendage. The pappus bristles are numerous, yellowish white in colour, and do not detach. Although they vary in length, they do not occur in two distinct rows. The longer pappus bristles have teeth along their length and are 5–7 mm (0.2–0.28 in) long, the shorter scaly and ½–1 mm (0.02–0.04 in) long. The dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruits called cypsellae are obovate to elliptic, about 4 mm (0.16 in) long and 1½ mm (0.06 in) wide, evenly silky hairy, with a brownish scaly surface when mature, and a light ochre-coloured marginal ridge. [4]

Felicia filifolia subsp. bodkinii remains lower than the typical subspecies at about 90 cm (35 in). The thick, succulent leaves, do not have a narrowed base, are nearly fully round in cross-section, about 2 cm long and 1 mm across, and sit alternately at regularly distances along the long shoots. Short shoots are failing or few. The relatively large floral heads have an involucre of about 10 mm in cross section, and sit at the top of the long shoots. The outer bracts are 1½ mm (0.06 in) long and ½ mm (0.02 in) wide, and the inner 5 mm long and 1.2 mm wide. Near Graaff Reinet, the subspecies occurs without ray florets. [5]

Felicia filifolia subsp. schaeferi is a low plant at a maximum of 25 cm (9.8 in). The succulent leaves are crowded along the stem and up to 15 mm long, often spread forward and narrowed at the base. The heads are up to 10 cm long stems. [6]

In Felicia filifolia subsp. schlechteri the floral heads are almost exclusively on 2–10 cm long stalks. The succulent leaves are round in cross section, and longer than in the typical subspecies at 1.8–4 cm, on average 2½ cm, and are typically oriented upwards, pressed against the stem. [7]

Felicia filifolia is a diploid having nine sets of homologous chromosomes (2n=18). [4]

Differences between the subspecies

Although intermediates between subsp. filifolia and each of the other three subspecies, and between subsp. schaeferi and subsp. bodkinii are known, the subspecies are distinct even when growing at the same location.

Twig of subsp. schaeferi Felicia filifolia Peter Warren 2.jpg
Twig of subsp. schaeferi

Taxonomy

The fine-leaved felicia was first described by the French botanist Étienne Pierre Ventenat, who named it Aster filifolius in 1804, accompanied by a colour etching [8] in his book Jardin de la Malmaison, about the plants in the palace garden that had been designed by Empress Joséphine, Napoleon Bonaparte's first wife. This etching now serves as the type for the species. In 1831, Christian Friedrich Lessing described another specimen that had been collected by Hinrich Lichtenstein between Leeuwenkraal and Ongeluksfontein, that he placed in the genus Diplostephium that had been created by Carl Sigismund Kunth in 1820, calling it Diplostephium teretifolium. In 1833, Nees von Esenbeck assigned Aster filifolius to Diplostephium, creating the name Diplostephium filifolium. Three years later, Augustin Pyramus de Candolle not only placed Ventenat's species in Diplopappus, creating Diplopappus filifolius, but also recognised Lessing's specimen as distinctive, calling it Diplopappus filifolius β teretifolius. In 1912, Joseph Burtt Davy assigned the fine-leaved felicia to the genus Felicia, creating the name Felicia filifolia. When in 1973 Jürke Grau revised the genus Felicia, he distinguished four subspecies, and all names above he regarded synonymous with subsp. filifolia. [4]

In 1831, De Candolle also described Fresenia leptophylla based on a collection by Johann Franz Drège from the Cederberg. In 1920, Kurt Dinter described a specimen collected by Fritz Schaefer in Namaland, Namibia, which he called Aster schäferi. In 1973 Grau demoted this taxon to the rank of subspecies, calling it subsp. schaeferi. [4]

De Candolle further described in 1836 Diplopappus elongatus, based on a plant collected by Drège in the Zuureberge, which was demoted to Diplopappus filifolius var. elongatus by William Henry Harvey in 1865. In 1924, Robert Harold Compton described Aster schlechteri. When Grau in 1973 wanted to assign the taxon to Felicia, the oldest epithet, elongatus, was not available because Aster elongatus described by Carl Thunberg in 1800, is the basionym of Felicia elongata. He therefore made the combination Felicia filifolia subsp. schlechteri. [4] [9]

In 1867 Harry Bolus described Fresenia fasciculata based on a specimen he collected in the Sneeuberge between Graaff-Reinet and Murraysburg. In 1924, Robert Harold Compton described Aster schlechteri. In 1931, Compton described both Aster bodkinii and Felicia teres. In 1973, Grau regarded these names synonyms and belonging to the fourth subspecies of Felicia filifolia, which he named subsp. bodkinii. [4]

The species is considered part of the section Lignofelicia . [4]

Distribution

The subspecies fililolia has a large distribution, southeast from a line between about 25° south in the east of South Africa to about 30° in the west. Subspecies bodkinii occurs from Namaqualand in the north to Ceres and Humansdorp in the east. Subspecies schaeferi may be found from Namibia southwards to Worcester in the west and Willowmore in the east. Subspecies schlechteri grows in the Klein Karoo between Ceres in the west and Grahamstown in the east. [4]

Conservation

In South Africa, the continued survival of all four subspecies of Felicia filifolia is considered to be of least concern because their populations are stable. [10] [11] [12] [13]

Related Research Articles

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

Felicia amelloides, the blue daisy bush or blue felicia, is a hairy, soft, usually perennial, evergreen plant, in the daisy family. 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.

<i>Felicia aethiopica</i> A shrublet in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia aethiopica is a low shrublet of up to about 50 cm high that is assigned to the daisy family. It has rigid, leathery, inverted egg-shaped leaves, with only the lowest pair set oppositely. It has flower heads with an involucre of about 8 mm in diameter with bracts that each contain three resin ducts, and have one whorl of twelve to fourteen ray florets with about 11 mm long and 1½ mm wide blue straps surrounding many yellow disc florets. The plant is called wild aster or dwarf Felicia in English, and wilde-aster or bloublombossie in Afrikaans. Flowering occurs year round. Wild aster can be found in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa.

<i>Polyarrhena</i>

Polyarrhena is a genus of low, branching shrublets that is assigned to the daisy family. Its stems are alternately and densely set with entire or somewhat toothed leaves. 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 three whorls of bracts. In Polyarrhena, the centre of the head is taken by yellow disc florets, and is surrounded by one single whorl of white ligulate florets that have a pinkish-purple wash on the underside. These florets sit on a common base and are not individually subtended by a bract. The species occur in the Cape Floristic Region. Polyarrhena reflexa has long been cultivated as an ornamental and is often known under its synonym Aster reflexum.

<i>Felicia echinata</i> a shrublet in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia echinata, commonly known as the dune daisy or prickly felicia, is a species of shrub native to South Africa belonging to the daisy family. It grows to 1 m (3.3 ft) high and bears blue-purple flower heads with yellow central discs. In the wild, it flowers April to October.

<i>Felicia cymbalariae</i> a perennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia cymbalariae, is a hairy perennial herbaceous plant of up to 30 cm (12 in) high in the daisy family. It has creeping branches that bend upwards, stalked leaves of up to 6 × 4½ cm (2.4 × 1.8 in) with few teeth or nearly entire. The flower heads are set individually on top of up to 8 cm (3 in) long stalks and contain about sixteen white ray florets of about 6 × 1½ mm around a center with many yellow or dark wine red disc florets. It can be found in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Flower heads can be found between September and June.

<i>Felicia canaliculata</i> A shrublet in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia canaliculata is a grayish green shrublet in the daisy family that grows up to 40 cm (16 in) in height. It has narrow, awl-shaped leaves, relatively large flower heads with approximately a dozen light purple to white ray florets encircling many yellow disc florets. It can only be found in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

<i>Felicia fruticosa</i> A shrublet in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia fruticosa is a strongly branching shrub of up to 1.3 metres high that is assigned to the daisy family with flower heads consisting of about twenty purple to white ray florets encircling many yellow disc florets, and small flat, entire and hairless leathery leaves. Two subspecies are recognized. Felicia fruticosa subsp. brevipedunculata, from the Limpopo Province of South Africa is up to 1.3 metres tall and has longer leaves of 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long and 2 millimetres (0.079 in) wide and nearly seated pale violet to white flower heads. Felicia fruticosa subsp. fruticosa, from the Western Cape province of South Africa, is no more than 1 m and has shorter leaves of 1.25 centimetres (0.49 in) long and 2.5 millimetres (0.098 in) wide with flower heads on largely leafless, about 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long stems. It is sometimes called bosastertjie in Afrikaans. In the wild, flower occurs from August till October.

<i>Felicia macrorrhiza</i> A shrublet in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia macrorrhiza is a small, evergreen shrub in the daisy family. This species grows in the Karoo region of South Africa. It is called Aspoestertjie in Afrikaans.

<i>Felicia namaquana</i> A annual plant in the daisy family from Namibia and South Africa

Felicia namaquana is a glandular-hairy, branching annual plant of up to 25 cm (10 in) high that is assigned to the daisy family. It is sometimes called Bloublommetjie or pers poublom in Afrikaans. Flowering occurs between May and October. It grows in Namibia and South Africa.

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

Felicia rosulata is a hairy, perennial, herbaceous plant of up to 30 cm (1 ft) high, that is assigned to the daisy family. It has a rosette of elliptic 8 cm × 2 cm leaves with 3–5 veins, and long, hairy stalks, each topped with one floral head consisting of about thirty middle blue ray florets encircling many yellow disc florets. It can be found in the mountains of Lesotho, eastern South Africa and Swaziland.

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

Felicia amoena is a variably hairy, sometimes glandular, biennial or perennial plant, of about 25 cm (10 in) high, that is assigned to the daisy family. 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 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.

<i>Felicia bellidioides</i> A perennial plant in the daisy family from South Africa

Felicia bellidioides is a perennial plant of up to about 25 cm (10 in) high, that is assigned to the daisy family. Most of the narrowly inverted egg-shaped leaves are silky hairy and in a basal rosette with no or few very narrow bracts on the stalk in the subspecies bellidioides. In the subspecies foliosa, the narrower leaves are not silky hairy but variously bristly and glandular, with more and larger bracts on the inflorescence stalk. The flowerheads sit individually on top of a long peduncle and consist of an involucre with only two worls of bracts, about twenty purplish blue ray florets, surrounding many yellow disc florets. It occurs in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Felicia annectens is an annual plant of up to about 25 cm (10 in) high, that is assigned to the daisy family. 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.

<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 daisy family. It has opposite leaves and flower heads set individually on up to 8 cm long stalks, that consist of an involucre of about ​1⁄2 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 daisy family. 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 3​1⁄3 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 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 daisy family. 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, Swaziland, 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 daisy family. 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.

Felicia smaragdina is an annual, bristly and glandular, much branched plant of up to 40 cm high, that has been assigned to the daisy family. 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 1​1⁄2 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 daisy family. 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.

<i>Felicia</i> (plant) A genus of shrublets, perennials and annuals in the daisy family

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, seldomly 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.

References

  1. ↑ Manning, John (2007). Field Guide to Fynbos. p. 450. ISBN   9781770072657.
  2. ↑ Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa - Watt & Brandwijk
  3. ↑ Cherise Viljoen. "Felicia filifolia subsp. filifolia". SANBI PlantZAfrica.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Grau, J. (1973). "Revision der Gattung Felicia (Asteraceae)". Mitteilungen der Botanischer Staatssammlung München. IX: 279–301. Retrieved 2017-11-12.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. ↑ Grau, J. (1973). "Revision der Gattung Felicia (Asteraceae)". Mitteilungen der Botanischer Staatssammlung München. IX: 294–297. Retrieved 2017-11-12.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. ↑ Grau, J. (1973). "Revision der Gattung Felicia (Asteraceae)". Mitteilungen der Botanischer Staatssammlung München. IX: 292–294. Retrieved 2017-11-12.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. ↑ Grau, J. (1973). "Revision der Gattung Felicia (Asteraceae)". Mitteilungen der Botanischer Staatssammlung München. IX: 298–303. Retrieved 2017-11-12.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. ↑ Étienne Pierre Ventenat (1804). Jardin de la Malmaison, Tome 2. p. plate 82.
  9. ↑ Grau, J. (1973). "Revision der Gattung Felicia (Asteraceae)". Mitteilungen der Botanischer Staatssammlung München. IX: 528. Retrieved 2017-11-12.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  10. ↑ "filifolia subsp. bodkinii". SANBI Red List of South African Plants.
  11. ↑ "Fine-leaved Felicia". SANBI Red List of South African Plants.
  12. ↑ "Draaibos". SANBI Red List of South African Plants.
  13. ↑ "Felicia filifolia subsp. schlechteri". SANBI Red List of South African Plants.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.