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Arctotheca calendula
Also called Cape Weed, Plain Treasure Flower, Cape Dandelion, Plain Treasureflower, African Marigold, Cape Daisy, Cape Marigold
Capeweed is a low, spreading perennial or annual groundcover from South Africa, grown as an ornamental but invasive where introduced. Give it full sun and let it spread, but control seeding in areas you don't want it.
Arctotheca calendula is a plant in the sunflower family commonly known as capeweed, plain treasureflower, cape dandelion, or cape marigold because it occurs in the Western Cape Province in South Africa. It has a wide distribution in coastal areas of South Africa, extending from Namaqualand to Cape Point and as far as KwaZulu-Natal.
It is cultivated as an attractive ornamental groundcover but has invasive potential when introduced to a new area. Growing best in full sun and hardy to moderate frost, the plant can reproduce vegetatively or via seed. Seed-bearing plants are most likely to become weedy, taking hold most easily in bare or sparsely vegetated soil or disturbed areas.
Arctotheca calendula is native to southern Africa in Lesotho and in the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape, where it thrives in Namaqualand, the Karoo and as far as the Cape Peninsula, where it is found in coastal areas on ruderal sandy soils, along roadsides, on old farmland, and on disturbed sites.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Arctotheca calendula by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
