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Felicia elongata
Also called Saldanha Felicia, Tricolor Felicia
Felicia elongata is a rare perennial daisy from the Saldanha Bay area of South Africa, growing to about 40 cm with a woody base and striking white flowers with a dark purple base and orange-yellow centre. It is grown in gardens for its looks and needs sharp drainage and sun.
Felicia elongata is a perennial plant of up to 40 cm (1+1⁄3 ft) high that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has stiff, oval, opposing leaves with one distinctive vein and entire margin. The 5 cm (2 in) wide flower heads are very conspicuous in colour, white with a dark purple zone at the base of the ray florets and an orange-yellow disc. Flowering occurs from late August to September, or if the rains arrive late, sometimes October. It is a rare species that is restricted to the Saldanha Bay area. It is sometimes called Saldanha felicia or tricolour felicia in English, and driekleurblommetjie in Afrikaans.
The Saldanha felica can only be found growing on limestone ridges and coastal sands, alongside the Langebaan Lagoon, and edging the Vredenburg Peninsula to Paternoster in the north. The flower heads appear to be mainly pollinated by bees. Within one month of opening, the flower heads develop into seedheads. It may grow in the vicinity of the Cape daisy, Dimorphotheca pluvialis, blue flax, Heliophila coronopifolia or in the shade of rooi malva, Pelargonium fulgidum or dikbeen malva, P. gibbosum. After flowering and setting seed, the plants die back and survive the long hot summer as short, leafless woody stumps. These start growing as soon as the winter rains arrive. It occurs in vegetation types called Langebaan Dune Strandveld, Saldanha Flats Strandveld, Saldanha Granite Strandveld and Saldanha Limestone Strandveld.
Felicia elongata is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental and is can be grown quite easily. It grows very well in well-draining garden soil.
African Felicia · Felicia alba · Blue daisy · Soft Felicia · Felicia annectens · Felicia bellidioides · Kingfisher Daisy · Shortleaf Felicia · Felicia cana · Felicia canaliculata · Pokkie Felicia · Broad Felicia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Felicia elongata 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.
