Arctotis ×hybrida hort.

Sprawling annual herb to 40 cm tall, white-woolly. Stems prostrate or ascending. Leaves only along stems, with wavy margins, to 10 cm long, sessile. Capitula terminal, solitary, to 7 cm across, on stalks 15-30 cm long; spring and summer. Ray florets white, cream, pink, orange, red or grey-blue. Disk florets variable in colour.

Garden origin

Probably the hybrid, A. venusta Norl.× A. fastuosa Jacq.

This hybrid is the source of many flower colour and flower size variants, often with dark 'eyes' and mostly with long stems, making them appealing as cut flowers.

 

A. venusta Norl., Blue-eyed African Daisy, has become naturalised in Australia, occasionally escaping from gardens. The nomenclature has long been confused, its most well-known name in current horticulture being A. stoechadifolia var. grandis. It is thought to be one of the parents of A. ×hybrida. This S African annual grows to 1 m tall, often with the stems prostrate and branches more or less erect. The ray florets are white (purplish below) and the disk florets violet.

Source: Jeanes, J. (2002). Asteraceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

Hero image
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Asteranae
order      Asterales
family       Asteraceae
genus        Arctotis L.