Felicia australis flowerhead

The flowerheads of Felicia australis grow solitary on leafless, erect peduncles. The rough, green involucral bracts grow in three or four rows around the base of the flowerhead.

A flat yellow disc comprising numerous florets is surrounded by one spaced row of deep blue or mauve ray florets, their shape oblanceolate and round-tipped. The rays, about 25 of them, tend to bend back, their tips in the open flowerhead borne slightly lower than the disc, not unlike felicias in general. Flowerhead diameter is from 1,5 cm to 3 cm.

The flowerhead shape has earned several Felicia species the Afrikaans common name of sambreeltjies (little umbrellas).

The flowering happens late in winter to early in spring, coinciding with the usual Namaqualand flowering season (Manning, 2007; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Manning and Goldblatt, 1997; iNaturalist).