''Gazania'' 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 Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

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 ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

.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 Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows low over an area of ground, which protects the topsoil from erosion and drought. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as the ...

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. H ...

in the second volume of his major work '' De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum'' in 1791. Gaertner named the genus after Theodorus Gaza, a 15th-century translator of the works of

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek Philosophy, philosopher and Natural history, naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum (classical), Lyceum, the ...

.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 use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Arctotideae and the

subtribe Subtribe is a taxonomic category ranking which is below the rank of tribe and above genus. The standard suffix for a subtribe is -ina (in animals) or -inae (in plants). The first use of this word dates back to the late 19th century. An example of ...

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 A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, M ...

of the genus was published. It was based on

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis of

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle, organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant cell, plant and algae, algal cells. Chloroplasts have a high concentration of chlorophyll pigments which captur ...

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 A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...

s. In this

study Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Field of study * Observational study * Scientific study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study ...

, all of Roessler's species except ''Gazania othonnites'' were

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

. 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 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 kind of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and which retains those traits when propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue cult ...

have been selected for variety of colour and habit. In

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

regions, they are usually grown as half-hardy annuals. A commonly grown variety is the trailing gazania ('' Gazania rigens'' var. ''leucolaena''). It is commonly used as

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 ('' Gazania rigens''), 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 ...

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

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

Species

Sources:

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) Image:Gazania x Copper King.jpg, Clumping gazania (Gazania rigens) cultivar known as 'Copper King' at the Desert Demonstration Garden in Las Vegas Image:WhiteGazania.JPG, White and purple gazania Image:Gazania Rigens Yellow White (1).jpg, Yellow and White variety of '' Gazania rigens'' Image:Orange flowers 4.jpg, Orange gazania in Palestine Image:Gazania flower 2.jpg, Gazania flower with some dew droplets Image:Orange gazania.jpg, Orange gazania

References

External links

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