''Felicia bellidioides'' is a perennial plant of up to about high, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. 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 Stalk or stalking may refer to: Behaviour * Stalk, the stealthy approach (phase) of a predator towards its prey * Stalking, an act of intrusive behaviour or unwanted attention towards a person * Deer stalking, the pursuit of deer for sport Biol ...

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.

Description

''Felicia bellidioides'' subsp. ''bellidioides'' is a perennial, upwardly growing plant of up to high, sometimes with runners. Its leaves are set alternate along the stems (with the exception of the lowest pair that is opposite), mostly crowded in a basal rosette. The leaves are inverted egg-shaped to narrowly inverted egg-shaped, sometimes with an indistinct

, either broader and shorter, long and wide, and then usually white silky hairy, or 2½–3 cm (1.0–1.2 in) long and wide and distinctly hairy, or longer, long and 1½–5 mm (0.06–0.2 in) wide and usually short bristly and glandular hairs. In all forms the leaf margins rarely carry a few teeth.

Flowers and seeds

The flower heads are individually set on top of an up to long

, that mostly carries no bracts but rarely very narrow bracts. The involucre is up to in diameter and consists of a double row of long bracts. The outer bracts are lance-shaped, about 1½ mm (0.06 in) wide, and carry long hairs or glandular bristles. The inner bracts are narrowly inverted egg-shaped and about 2 mm (0.08 in) wide, with a few hairs and a papery margin. Each flower head carries about twenty ray florets, with a purplish blue ligula of about long and 3 mm (0.12 in) wide. These encircle numerous disc florets, with a yellow

corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name * Corolla (headgear), an ancient headdress in the form of a circlet or crown * ''Corolla'' (gastropod), a genus of moll ...

of up to 3 mm long. Encircling the base of the corolla are many white, toothed, deciduous, pappus bristles of 2–3 mm (0.08–0.12 in) long. The eventually black, dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruits called cypselae are inverted egg-shaped, about 2½ mm (0.1 in) long and wide, set with fine scales and with up to long hair, and are edged with an mostly brighter coloured ridge around the outline.

Subspecies

''Felicia bellidioides'' subsp. ''foliata'' differs from the typical subspecies by having bracts higher up the peduncles, clearly stalked, longer and narrower leaves of 1–6 cm long and –4 mm wide, without the silky hairs.

Taxonomy

Rudolf Schlechter was the first to describe this species in 1897, based on a specimen collected on the Matroosberg at an altitude of about in 1895 by Rudolf Marloth. Jürke Grau in his 1973 ''

Revision Revision is the process of revising. More specifically, it may refer to: * Patch (computing), Update, a modification of software or a database * Revision control, the management of changes to sets of computer files * ''ReVisions'', a 2004 antholo ...

of the genus Felicia (Asteraceae)'' distinguished a form with bracts higher up the peduncle, stalked, longer and narrower leaves without the silky hair characteristic of the typical form. He named it ''Felicia bellidioides'' subsp. ''foliata'', the type of which has been collected by Barker on the Voetpadsberg between Worcester and Laingsburg in 1951. The species is considered to be part of the section Neodetris. The species name ''bellidioides'' has been compounded from the Latin ''bellis'' referring to the genus ''

Bellis ''Bellis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. The group is native to Europe, the Mediterranean and northern Africa. One species has been introduced into North America and others into other parts of the world. The genus ...

'', and the Greek suffix ''-oides'', which means "in the form of".

Distribution, habitat and ecology

''Felicia bellidioides'' subsp. ''bellidioides'' is known from the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the southwest to Matroosberg in the northeast. Isolated subpopulations of this subspecies also occurs in the Riviersonderend Mountains near

Genadendal Genadendal is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, built on the site of the oldest mission station in the country. It was originally known as Baviaanskloof, but was renamed Genadendal in 1806. Genadendal was the place of the fir ...

, the Groot Winterhoek Mountains near

Gouda Gouda may refer to: * Gouda, South Holland, a city in the Netherlands ** Gouda (pottery), style of pottery manufactured in Gouda ** Gouda cheese, type of cheese originally made in and around Gouda ** Gouda railway station * Gouda, Western Cape, a s ...

, the

Anysberg The Anysberg Nature Reserve of 62,500 ha, is situated in the western Little Karoo region of the Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve in the Western Cape province, South Africa. The central mountain is named after Anise, ''Pimpinella anisum'', whi ...

, and the

Klein Swartberg The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in Afrikaans) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Kar ...

near Ladysmith. Subsp. foliosa borders the distribution a to the north and east, from the

Cederberg The Cederberg mountains are located near Clanwilliam, approximately 300 km north of Cape Town, South Africa at about . The mountain range is named after the endangered Clanwilliam cedar (''Widdringtonia wallichii''), which is a tree end ...

, the

Kouebokkeveld Mountains The Koue Bokkeveld, meaning "Cold Buck Shrubland" in Afrikaans, is a mountain range in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Geologically the range is composed of Cedarberg Sandstone of the Cape System. Location and extent It is located above ...

, Keeromsberg, the

Witteberg The Witteberg or Witteberge is a South African mountain range just off the south-west corner of Lesotho. The range, which rises to 2408 metres, stretches for about 60 km from Lundin's Neck in the east to Lady Grey in the west. The range l ...

near Laingsburg, Eendracht near Montagu, and the

Swartberg Pass The Swartberg Pass on the R328 runs over the Swartberg mountain range (''black mountain'' in English) which runs roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid area called the Little Karoo in the Western Cape province of South A ...

. The species is restricted to altitudes of , where it often grows in cracks in the rocks.

Conservation

Both subspecies of ''Felicia bellidioides'' have a stable population and their continued survival is considered to be of least concern.

References

External links

Photos of ''Felicia bellidioides''
on iNaturalist
Line drawing of ''Felicia bellidioides'' subsp. ''bellidioides''

Line drawing of ''Felicia bellidioides'' subsp. ''foliosa''

Distribution of both subspecies of ''Felicia bellidioides''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15598149 bellidioides Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Plants described in 1897