Gazania rigens

Gazania rigens (*)

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Campanulids
Ordo: Asterales

Familia: Asteraceae
Subfamilia: Vernonioideae
Tribus: Arctotideae
Subtribus: Gorteriinae
Genus: Gazania
Species: Gazania rigens
Varietates: G. r. var. leucolaena – G. r. var. rigens – G. r. var. uniflora
Name

Gazania rigens (L.) Gaertn., 1791.
Synonyms

Gazania heterophylla Willd. ex Steud.
Gazania rigens (L.) Moench
Gazania splendens Lem.
Gorteria heterophylla Willd.
Gorteria personata Hill
Gorteria rigens (L.) L.
Gorteria rigida Banks ex DC.
Gorteria spectabilis Salisb.
Melanchrysum rigens (L.) Cass.
Meridiana ringens (L.) Kuntze
Meridiana splendens (Lem.) Kuntze
Meridiana tesselata Hill

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Africa
Regional: Southern Africa
South Africa (Transvaal, KwaZulu-Natal)

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition

Gazania rigens cultivar

Gazania rigens cultivar, Photo: Augusta Stylianou

Gazania rigens cultivar

Gazania rigens cultivar, Photo: Augusta Stylianou

References

Gaertner, J. 1790–1792 ["1791"]. De fructibus et seminibus plantarum. Volumen alterum, continens seminum centurias quinque posteriores cum tabulis aeneis CI. LII + 520 pp., tt. 80–180. Typis Guilielmi Henrici Schrammii, Tubingae [Tübingen]. BHL Reference page. : 451.

Links

Hassler, M. 2018. Gazania rigens. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2018. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 May 20. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Gazania rigens. Published online. Accessed: May 20 2018.
The Plant List 2013. Gazania rigens in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 May 20.
Tropicos.org 2018. Gazania rigens. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 May 20.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Gazania rigens in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.

Vernacular names
magyar: Pompás záporvirág
polski: Gazania lśniąca
Tiếng Việt: Cúc huân chương
中文: 勋章菊; 勳章菊

Gazania rigens (syn. G. splendens), sometimes called treasure flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to southern Africa. It is naturalised elsewhere and is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant.

Description

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 30cm 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 grayish white lapel.

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.
Naturalisation

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. It is a weed in the islands of Madeira, Sicily and Sardinia .

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]
Cultivation

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, and adapts well to drought. Flowering from March to October in the northern hemisphere, the flowers are however more numerous and larger in the spring.[3] In temperate regions this plant is usually grown as a half-hardy annual, though it can tolerate short periods of frost.
Varieties

The currently recognised varieties are:[4]

G. rigens (L.) Gaertn. var. leucolaena (DC.) Roessler. In cultivation, this variety is referred to as trailing gazania.
G. rigens (L.) Gaertn. var. rigens This variety is only found in cultivation, where it is known as clumping gazania. It is distinguished by its large 4- to 8-cm flower heads with yellow or orange rays, each with a basal eye-spot.[5]
G. rigens (L.) Gaertn. var. uniflora (L.f.) Roessler