Family:
Asteraceae Bercht. & J.Presl

Gerbera L.

This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropical & S. Africa to China and Indo-China, Lesser Sunda Islands (Bali).

[FTEA]

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

Morphology General Habit
Scapose herbs with perennial rootstock becoming ± woody with age
Morphology Leaves
Leaves all in a basal rosette, prostrate or ± ascending, petiolate or with a petioloid base, pinnately veined, entire to pinnatifid
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Scape
Scapes 1–several from each rosette, sometimes precocious, erect, bracteate or ebracteate, simple, 1-headed
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula solitary, terminal, erect, heterogamous, apparently radiate but with all florets bilabiate, the female with usually much reduced staminodes; involucre cylindrical to campanulate; phyllaries ± 3-seriate, imbricate, the outer shorter, the inner ± subequal and with ± membranous glabrous margins, glabrous inside
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Outer florets female; corolla of outermost florets with narrow tube, radiating 3-toothed lower lip and upper lip of 2 narrow, short, linear often curled lobes, other female florets with short non-radiating lower lip; style branches very short, ovoid to club-shaped Inner florets hermaphrodite, the corolla with broader tube and short broader lower lip; anthers strongly sagittate or tailed; style branches short, oblong, obtuse
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes all similar, ± fusiform, apically narrowed or distinctly beaked, somewhat dorsiventrally compressed, 5–10-ribbed, brownish, usually pilose; pappus of numerous barbellate bristles, whitish, tawny or purplish.

[FSOM]

M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia, Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS

Morphology General Habit
Scapose herbs with perennial rootstock
Morphology Leaves
Leaves all in a basal rosette
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Scape
Scapes 1–several from each rosette, sometimes precocious, simple, 1-headed
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Capitula solitary, terminal, heterogamous, apparently radiate but with all florets 2-lipped
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Outer florets female; corolla with narrow tube, radiating 3-toothed lower lip and upper lip of 2 narrow, short lobes Inner florets bisexual, the corolla with broader tube and short broader lower lip; anthers strongly sagittate or tailed; style-arms short, oblong, obtuse
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes all similar, ± fusiform, apically narrowed or distinctly beaked, somewhat flattened; pappus of numerous barbellate bristles, whitish, tawny or purplish.
Distribution
Afroasian genus of some 22 species, centered in southern Africa and Madagascar.

[FZ]

Compositae, G. V. Pope. Flora Zambesiaca 6:1. 1992

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style
Style branches of hermaphrodite flowers shortly and broadly lanceolate, the tips rounded or subacute with short pollen-sweeping hairs outside.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achenes narrowly flask-shaped, ± attenuate above or prolonged into an apical beak, 4–10-ribbed, sparsely puberulous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Pappus several-seriate of minutely barbellate setae.
Morphology General Habit
Scapigerous perennial herbs from woody rootstocks; rootcrowns lanate, roots numerous spreading thong-like or fusiform.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves radical, entire serrulate to dentate or sinuate-pinnatifid, sometimes villose to closely tomentose on the lower surface, usually glabrescent Scapes 1-several, ebracteate in the Flora Zambesiaca area, often appearing before or with the young leaves, sometimes elongating after seed-set, erect, densely villose-tomentose towards the apex, glabrescent in the lower part.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Capitulum
Capitula solitary, heterogamous, bilabiate-radiate; corollas all 2-lipped, the outer lip strap-shaped or shortly elliptic (2)3-denticulate, the inner lip of 2 small linear lobes.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracts Involucre
Involucres broadly obconic; phyllaries numerous, imbricate, increasing in size to the inside, narrowly lanceolate or linear-triangular.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Receptacle
Receptacle flat, shallowly alveolate.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Florets
Inner florets hermaphrodite or functionally male. Outer florets female the marginal ones radiate and the submarginal ones equally bilabiate, staminodes usually present (often absent in Gerbera piloselloides).
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
Corollas white yellow pink or red.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens Anthers
Anthers with narrowly ovate apical appendages, and sagittate bases with tails entire or ciliate.

Native to:

Angola, Assam, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Repu, China South-Central, China Southeast, Congo, East Himalaya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Hainan, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Lesotho, Lesser Sunda Is., Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Northern Provinces, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

Introduced into:

Benin, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Jawa, Korea, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Panamá, Réunion, Trinidad-Tobago, Tubuai Is.

Gerbera L. appears in other Kew resources:

First published in Opera Var.: 247 (1758)

Accepted by

  • (2016). http://dx.doi.org/10.12705/653.7 epublication.
  • Roskov Y. & al. (eds.) (2018). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands.

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • Brenan in Mem. N.Y. Bot. Gard. 8: 488 (1954)
  • F.T.A. 3: 445
  • Taxon 9: 160 (1960).Nom. cons.
  • in Bull. Sci. Soc. Philom. Paris 1817: 34

Flora Zambesiaca

  • C. Jeffrey in Kew Bull. 21: 211 (1967).
  • H.V. Hansen in Opera Bot. 78: 5–36 (1985).
  • Hilliard, Compos. Natal: 586 (1977).
  • Opera Var.: 247 (1758) nom. conserv.
  • Wild in Kirkia 8: 202 (1972).

Flora of Somalia

  • Flora Somalia, (2000) Author: by H. Beentje [updated by M. Thulin 2008]
  • Hansen in Opera Bot. 78: 1–36 (1985).

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • C. Jeffrey in K.B. 21: 211 (1967)
  • H.V. Hansen in Nordic J. Bot. 5: 451-453 (1985)
  • H.V. Hansen in Nordic J. Bot. 8: 61 (1988)
  • H.V. Hansen in Opera Bot. 78: 1–36 (1985)
  • K. Bremer, Asteraceae Clad. & Class.: 100 (1994), nom. conserv.
  • Opera Varia: 247 (1758)

  • Art and Illustrations in Digifolia

    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Somalia

    Flora of Somalia
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • 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