''Gazania'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

.Per Ola Karis. 2007. "Arctotideae" pages 200-207. In: Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume VIII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. They produce large, daisy-like composite flowerheads in brilliant shades of yellow and orange, over a long period in summer. They are often planted as drought-tolerant groundcover.

Taxonomic history

The genus was first formally described by German botanist

Joseph Gaertner Joseph Gaertner (12 March 1732 – 14 July 1791) was a German botanist, best known for his work on seeds, ''De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum'' (1788-1792). Biography He was born in Calw, and studied in Göttingen under Albrecht von Haller. ...

in the second volume of his major work ''

De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum ''De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum'', also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Fruct. Sem. Pl.'', is a three-volume botanic treatise by Joseph Gaertner. The first volume was published in December 1788. The second volume was publishe ...

'' in 1791. Gaertner named the genus after

Theodorus Gaza Theodorus Gaza ( el, Θεόδωρος Γαζῆς, ''Theodoros Gazis''; it, Teodoro Gaza; la, Theodorus Gazes), also called Theodore Gazis or by the epithet Thessalonicensis (in Latin) and Thessalonikeus (in Greek) (c. 1398 – c. 1475), wa ...

, a 15th-century translator of the works of

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledge ...

.Seranne Howis, Nigel P. Barker, and Ladislav Mucina. 2009. "Globally grown, but poorly known: species limits and biogeography of ''Gazania'' Gaertn. (Asteraceae) inferred from chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequence data". ''Taxon'' 58(3):871-882. ''Gazania'' is a member of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Arctotideae and the subtribe Gorteriinae. Within the subtribe it is close to '' Hirpicium'' and '' Gorteria''.Vicki A. Funk and Raymund Chan. 2008. "Phylogeny of the Spiny African Daisies (Compositae, tribe Arctotideae, subtribe Gorteriinae) based on ''trn''L-F, ''ndh''F, and ITS sequence data". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 48(1):47-60. Many of the

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of ''Gazania'' are hard to distinguish and the number of species assigned to the genus has varied widely from one author to another. In 1959, Helmut Roessler published what he considered to be a preliminary revision of ''Gazania''. At that time, he recognized 16 species.Helmut Rössler. 1959. "Revision der Arctotideae - Gorteriinae (Compositae)". ''Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung München'' 3:71-500. Roessler published some amendments to his treatment in 1973.Helmut Roessler. 1973. ''Mitteilungen der Botanischen Staatssammlung Muenchen'' 11:91-99. In 2009, a

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

of the genus was published. It was based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in ...

and

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

DNA sequence DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

s. In this study, all of Roessler's species except ''Gazania othonnites'' were

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

. The authors found that eight species were not really separate, but formed a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. The seven species found to be distinct were ''G. jurineifolia, G. caespitosa, G. ciliaris, G. tenuifolia, G. heterochaeta, G. schenckii,'' and ''G. lichtensteinii''.

Distribution

The genus occurs from low-altitude sands to alpine meadows in South Africa, Eswatini, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Angola. Additionally, species are

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

and declared weed in South Australia, New Zealand, the Mediterranean, and California.

Cultivation

''Gazania'' species are grown for the brilliant colour of their flowerheads which appear in the late spring and are often in bloom throughout the summer into autumn. They prefer a sunny position and are tolerant of dryness and poor soils. Numerous

cultivars A cultivar is a type of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and when Plant propagation, propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and st ...

have been selected for variety of colour and habit. In

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

regions, they are usually grown as half-hardy annuals. A commonly grown variety is the trailing gazania (''

Gazania rigens ''Gazania'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Southern Africa.Per Ola Karis. 2007. "Arctotideae" pages 200-207. In: Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). ''The ...

'' var. ''leucolaena''). It is commonly used as groundcover and can be planted ''en masse'' to cover large areas or embankments, assisted by its fast growth rate. Cultivars of this variety include 'Sunburst', 'Sunglow', and 'Sunrise Yellow'. Another popular cultivated variety is the clumping gazania (''

''), which has a number of named cultivars including 'Aztec', 'Burgundy', 'Copper King', 'Fiesta Red', 'Goldrush' and 'Moonglow'. The following cultivars have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

’s

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

: * ''G.'' ‘Aztec’ * ''G.'' ‘Cookei’ * ''G. rigens'' ‘Variegata’ * Talent Series

Species

Gallery

Image:Gazania heterochaeta.jpg, ''Gazania heterochaeta'' Goegap N.R., Namaqualand, Northern Cape, South Africa Image:Gazania lichtensteinii.JPG, ''Gazania lichtensteinii'' Goegap N.R., Namaqualand, Northern Cape, South Africa Image:Gazania rigens-1.jpg, ''Gazania rigens'' (flower) File:WhiteGazania.JPG, White and purple gazania File:Gazania Rigens Yellow White (1).jpg, Yellow and White variety of ''

'' File:Orange flowers 4.jpg , Orange gazania in Palestine File:Orange gazania in Palestine.jpg , Orange gazania in Palestine File:Gazania flower 2.jpg, Gazania flower with some dew droplets

References

External links

PlantZafrica.com: ''Gazania krebsiana''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q858999 Annual plants Asteraceae genera Flora of Southern Africa Garden plants of Africa zh:勋章菊