Compositae. Tribe Arctotideae.
Gazania, Gaertn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 459.
Gazania pygmaea, Sond. in Linnaea, vol. xxiii. p. 69; Fl. Cap. vol. iii. p. 478.
During the month of September the veld round Pretoria is carpeted with the white flowers of this little Gazania. It is one of the first, if not the first plant to flower on burnt veld, and the contrast in colour between the white flowers and the young green grass is very striking. While so extremely common during the spring months, this species appears to be little known botanically. It was evidently first collected by the botanist Karl Zeyher on the Magaliesberg about the year 1841, and the description in the Flora Capensis based on Zeyher’s specimen is the most recent published information we have about this species. The plants are tufted, several underground stems arising from a stout tap-root.
The present plate was prepared from specimens collected by Mr. D. Fouche on the outskirts of Pretoria. Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria.
Description:—Acaulescent plants with several subterranean stems from the apex of the deep tap-root. Leaves crowded, radical, 2·5-6·5 cm. long, 3-5 mm. broad, linear, with an acute callous at the apex, attenuated at the base, somewhat channelled above, hispid on the upper surface, woolly-canescent beneath except on the midrib, entire, spinulose-ciliate. Heads many to each root. Peduncle about 3·5 cm. long, sparsely woolly, especially beneath the involucre, or subglabrous. Involucral-tube 7 mm. long, 6 mm. in diameter, turbinate; lobes in 4 rows; outer lobes 6 mm. long, 1 mm. broad, linear, obtuse, spinulose-ciliate; inner lobes 4 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, ovate, obtuse with reddish-brown membranous margins. Ray-florets neuter, white with a purplish band beneath; corolla tube 7 mm. long, cylindric; limb 1·7 mm. long, 4·5 mm. broad, lanceolate, bifid at the apex, with each lobe minutely 2-toothed, about 7-nerved and distinctly 2-keeled beneath. Disc-florets hermaphrodite; corolla-tube 6 mm. long, subcylindric, somewhat 5-angled, glabrous; lobes 1·5 mm. long, ·5 mm. broad, lanceolate, obtuse. Pappus of hyaline linear scales 1·5 mm. long. Ovary covered with long silky hairs; style 7 mm. long, cylindric (lengthening with age); stigmas ·75 long, linear, obtuse.