Gorteria

Gorteria, commonly called beetle daisy, is a genus of annuals in the Asteraceae family. Some of the plants are known for growing wiry branches from the base. Plant parts do not exude a milky latex like gazanias that are somewhat similar in appearance.

The leaves are alternate and sessile (stalkless), sometimes emerging at ground level from the plant base. The leaf-shape is lanceolate to linear with margins entire or lobed. The lower leaf surfaces are usually white-woolly.

The flowerheads grow solitary, nearly stalkless from stem-tips or leaf axils. Each head is multiflowered, consisting of both ray florets in a ring and disc florets in its centre. The involucre below is ovoid, its several rows of spiny and fringed bracts are attached to each other in forming a somewhat woody cup that encloses the fruits after flowering. The receptacle at the base of the involucre is basin-shaped, honey-combed and bare without scales.

The yellow, orange or red ray florets without tubes are sterile. Their blades are elliptic, clawed at the base and two- or three-toothed at the tips. Rays have dark markings at the base and on their outer surfaces.

The disc florets are tubular and deeply five-lobed, bisexual and fertile, unless some in the centre are sterile. The anthers are arrow-shaped at the base and have appendages at their tips. The style is linear, almost globular at the base and with a branched tip, or the innermost ones unbranched.

The fruit or cypsela is obovoid and silky-haired. Each fruit has a pappus with a few bristles, a ring of scales, a cup or a crown. Gorteria seeds germinate while still in the heads.

There are three species of Gorteria, all endemic to the western, winter rainfall parts of southern Africa, extending to the south coast as far as the Eastern Cape.

The beetle daisy common name is a misnomer as the plants are mainly pollinated by bee-flies.

The plant in picture is Gorteria personata (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2009).