''Dimorphotheca ecklonis'', also known as Cape marguerite, African daisy, Van Staden's river daisy, Sundays river daisy, white daisy bush, blue-and-white daisy bush, star of the veldt is an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

that is native to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is now regarded as a weed in parts of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, particularly Victoria and Western Australia.

Features

It is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

dwarf

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

with the stature heights of 25 to 50 centimeters. The leaves measure 5 to 10 × 1 to 4 inches and are glandular fluffy,

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

elliptical Elliptical may mean: * having the shape of an ellipse, or more broadly, any oval shape ** in botany, having an elliptic leaf shape ** of aircraft wings, having an elliptical planform * characterised by ellipsis (the omission of words), or by conc ...

, slightly

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

, narrow

obovate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

and entire or serrated. The heads are on 15 to 20 centimeters long stems and have a diameter of 5 to 8 centimeters. The

bracts In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

are 13 to 16 millimeters long and glandular. The rays are white above and reddish blue below. The disc is dark blue or purple. The fruit surface is net-wrinkled.Munz, PA 1968. Suppl. Calif. Fl. 1-224.

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

Press , Berkeley. The flowering period is from April to September in the northern hemisphere. The plant is said to contain

hydrocyanic acid Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an ind ...

, making it poisonous to livestock.

Distribution

It is native to the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

Uitenhage Uitenhage ( ; ), officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port El ...

and

Humansdorp Humansdorp is a small town and surrounding district in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, with a population of around 29,000 during the South African National Census of 2011, census of 2011. It is part of the Kouga Local Municipality of the Sara ...

, in South Africa, and is found on wet grass and in

river bed A stream bed or streambed is the bottom of a stream or river (bathymetry) or the physical confine of the normal water flow (channel). The lateral confines or channel margins are known as the stream banks or river banks, during all but flood st ...

s at altitudes up to 300 meters.

Cultivation

It is widely used as an

in pots, summer borders and balcony boxes. It is cultivated one-year old. There are numerous hybrids and varieties, including upright, up to 1.5 meters high and half-low. This species has been in culture since about 1920. It thrives best in full sun, in poor, sandy soil.

References

Bibliography

External links

''Dimorphotheca ecklonis'' entry in plantZAfrica.com

''Recent Incursions of Weeds Into Australia 1971-1995''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15629400 ecklonis Flora of South Africa