Family:
Asteraceae Bercht. & J.Presl

Osteospermum L.

This genus is accepted, and its native range is Egypt to S. Africa and Arabian Peninsula.

[FTEA]

Compositae, H. Beentje, C. Jeffrey & D.J.N. Hind. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2005

Morphology General Habit
Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs
Morphology Leaves
Leaves alternate or less often opposite, sometimes in a rosette, petiolate or sessile, entire or variously divided up to bipinnatipartite
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula solitary and terminal or arranged in terminal corymbose cymes or rarely racemes, heterogamous, radiate; phyllaries free, 1–3(–4)-seriate; receptacle flat or slightly convex, epaleate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Ray florets with a short tube and a narrow oblong ray, this rounded and minutely 3-dentate distally, staminodes sometimes present; style linear, glabrous, with long linear obtuse branches with stigmatose swellings along the margins; disc florets with a gradually widening tube, 5-lobed; anthers sagittate at the base with ± tailed auricles, with ovate apical appendage; style shallowly cleft, the lobes connate, with a collar of sweeping hairs at or slightly below the bifurcation, papillae absent
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes hard, straight or slightly incurved, triangular or terete, sometimes 3–9-ridged, smooth, rugose or tuberculate, with or without wings, without or rarely with a rostrum; pappus absent.

[FTEA]

Compositae, H. Beentje, C. Jeffrey & D.J.N. Hind. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 2005

Morphology General Habit
Unarmed or spinescent shrubs or small trees
Morphology Leaves
Leaves alternate, petiolate, entire
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescence of solitary capitula or of few capitula together in a corymb
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula radiate; involucre broadly campanulate; phyllaries 2–3-seriate, with scarious margins; receptacle glabrous or pubescent
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Ray florets female, fertile, with a short tube and a 4-veined yellow ray with 3 minute lobes distally, 4 staminodes, and a filiform style with obtuse branches; disc florets functionally male with a glandular-hairy tube and 5 ovate-triangular lobes; anthers with sagittate base, apically with ovate appendage; ovary oblong-linear, style minutely bifid, glandular, the arms pilose
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit a globose drupe, shiny blue or black, with a hard globose or ellipsoid endocarp with a smooth surface or with raised nerves; pappus absent.

Native to:

Angola, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Northern Provinces, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Socotra, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

Introduced into:

California, France, Hawaii, New Mexico, New South Wales, New Zealand North, Norfolk Is., Northern Territory, Queensland, Sicilia, South Australia, Spain, Victoria, Western Australia

Osteospermum L. appears in other Kew resources:

First published in Sp. Pl.: 923 (1753)

Accepted by

  • Roskov Y. & al. (eds.) (2018). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands.

Literature

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • B. Nord. in K. Bremer, Asteraceae Clad. & Class.: 375 (1994)
  • G.P. 2: 455 (1873)
  • L., Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 395 (1754)
  • Norl., Stud. Calend. 1: 98–357 (1943)
  • Sp. Pl.: 923 (1753)

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0