Osteospermum moniliferum

Osteospermum moniliferum is a perennial semi-succulent shrub that grows to 2 m. It used to be called Chrysanthemoides monilifera. The plant is commonly known as tickberry and in Afrikaans bietou, a name surviving or modified from the original Khoi one. 

The yellow daisy flowers appear in autumn and winter, sometimes the blooming lasts until early spring.

O. moniliferum is divided into five subspecies found in South Africa. Some are widespread across big parts of the country, others found in at least one province, barring North West where none of them grows. The species is also widely represented in southern and tropical Africa.

Understandably, these plants cope in a wide range of habitats. In the Western Cape it is strandveld, dunes and fynbos, in the easterly summer rainfall parts the plants grow in grassland, scrubveld, rocky ridges and more. None of the subspecies is considered to be threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century.

The plant is robust and easy to grow, sometimes used as screening vegetation. It may invade and has done so in parts of Australia and New Zealand.

The early colonists in the Cape used the ash of this plant in making soap (Manning, 2007; Van Wyk and Gericke, 2000; Wikipedia; http://redlist.sanbi.org).