''Dais'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the family

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family (biology), family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Webs ...

. It is also part of the Gnidia subfamily, along with ''

Gnidia ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malagasy ' ...

'', ''Drapetes'', '' Kelleria'', '' Pimelea'', '' Struthiola'', '' Lachnaea'' and ''

Passerina The genus ''Passerina'' is a group of birds in the cardinal family (Cardinalidae). Although not closely related to the buntings in the family Emberizidae, they are sometimes known as the North American buntings. The males show vivid colors i ...

'', other

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

of species).Klaus Kubitzki and Clemens Bayer (editors) It is distributed between Tanzania to S. Africa, Madagascar. It is

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to the countries of

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and it is also found within several

Provinces of South Africa South Africa is divided into nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 South African general election, 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, known as Bantustans, were reintegrated into the country, and the four provinces were incr ...

, such as

Cape Provinces The Cape Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "CPP". It includes the Sou ...

, Free State,

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

and

Northern Provinces The Northern Provinces of South Africa is a biogeographical area used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). It is part of the WGSRPD region 27 Southern Africa. The area has the code "TVL". It includes the ...

General description

It has

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

,Christopher Brickell many-branched shrubs or trees. The bush or tree can reach up to 10 ft. The branches are dark or greyish brown and glabrous (smooth). The leaves are often at the ends of the branches and are opposite or alternate (arranged along the stem). They are petiolate (have a stalk) and have a smooth blade. They have a slightly bluish tinge above and are light green beneath, with the midrib and

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

lateral veins yellow beneath. The flowers have a dense, peduncle (have a flower stalk) and the terminal head, has

involucral bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also loo ...

s (a structure surrounding or supporting, usually a head of flowers) is rigid and persistent.B. Peterson (

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

), ''Thymelaeaceae''. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1978 The involucre is four-leaved, William Nicholson It has a spherical head of flowers. It has a cylindric calyx-tube, which is often slightly curved, and is circumscissile (opens at the top) above the ovary. It has 5 (rarely 4) lobes, with the outer lobes slightly larger than the inner. It has no

petals Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''coroll ...

, but 10

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

. It has a single chambered

ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...

, with one seed or fruit.

Taxonomy

First published in Sp. Pl. ed. 2 on page 556 in 1762, by Adriaan van Royen, based on an earlier description by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

. The genus name is derived from 'Dais' which means a 'torch' in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, and it refers to the resemblance of the stalk and bracts holding the flowers to a torch about to be lit. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

is ''Dais cotinifolia'' L. In 1807, was originally placed within ''Vipreculae'' family, (which all had an involucre which was 4 leaved, many flowered, no perianth, one petalled, funnel-formed, tube filiform, and border 5 cleft. There were 3 known species; ''Dais cotinifolia'', ''Dais ocranda'' and ''Dais difperma''.

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852), was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist who was widely regarded as Ireland's "National poet, national bard" during the late Georgian era. The acclaim rested primarily on the popularity of his ''I ...

notes that there was 7 species in the genus in 1874. It was verified by

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

and the

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

on 17 September 1996.

Species

2 accepted species are known;(according to Kew) * '' Dais cotinifolia'' L. 'African button flower' (from South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zimbabwe) * '' Dais glaucescens'' Decne (from Madagascar) (has synonyms ''Dais madagascariensis'' Bojer ex Meisn., ''Dais rhamnifolia'' Baill. and ''Lasiosiphon rhamnifolius'' Baker) The US-based GRIN only accepts ''Dais cotinifolia'' L.

Uses

Both species are used as ornamentals within gardens, grown for their flowers and the overall appearance.

Cultivation

Within the garden setting, the plants are frost tender, require full sun and well drained soils. It is recommended to water containerized plants well when in growth and less when leafless. It is possible to

propagate Propagation can refer to: *Chain propagation in a chemical reaction mechanism *Crack propagation, the growth of a crack during the fracture of materials *Propaganda, non-objective information used to further an agenda *Reproduction, and other forms ...

the plants, by seed in spring or by semi-ripe cuttings in summer.

References

Other sources

* Bredenkamp, C. L. & J. B. P. Beyers. 2003. Thymelaeaceae in Plants of Southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14: 928–935. * Peterson, B. 2006. Thymelaeaceae. Fl. Zambes. 9(3): 85–117. * Peterson, B. 1978. Thymelaeaceae. 1–37. In W. B. Turrill & R. M. Polhill (ed.) Fl. Trop. E. Africa. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

External links

Species listing: ''Gnidia''.
Red List of South African Plants. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). {{Taxonbar, from=Q8353440 Thymelaeoideae Thymelaeaceae genera Flora of the Afrotropical realm Plants described in 1762 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus