Gerbera jamesonii is a tufted perennial daisy from South Africa and Eswatini, and the ancestor of the cultivated gerbera daisies sold worldwide. It needs bright light, well-drained soil and water kept at the base of the plant.
Family
Asteraceae (Daisy family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water at the base when the top of the soil feels dry, avoiding wet leaves and crown.
Soil
Free-draining, fertile potting mix or loam with good aeration.
Temperature
18–27 °C; protect below 7 °C.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Not toxic to cats or dogs (ASPCA).
Native range
Northern Prov. to Eswatini
Climate
subtropical
About
Gerbera jamesonii is a species of flowering plant in the genus Gerbera belonging to the basal Mutisieae tribe within the large Asteraceae (or Compositae) family. It is indigenous to South Eastern Africa and commonly known as the Barberton daisy, the Transvaal daisy, and as Barbertonse madeliefie or Rooigousblom in Afrikaans. It was the first species of Gerbera to be the subject of a scientific description, studied by J. D. Hooker in Curtis's Botanical Magazine in 1889.
Where it grows
Gerbera jamesonii is endemic to Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Eswatini. The plant is introduced into several countries of Latin America, Equatorial Africa and Southeast Asia.
Uses
The species is the ancestor of all cultivated forms of Gerbera, or they originate from the cross Gerbera jamesonii and Gerbera viridifolia, originally made by R. I. Lynch in Cambridge, England about 1890. He named the hybrid as Gerbera × cantebrigiensis, known today as Gerbera × hybrida. Nowadays thousands of cultivars exist and they are the important article of trade belonging to the most important ornamental crops in the world together with rose, chrysanthemum, carnation, lily and tulip. The popular cultivars include "Sazou", "Sangria", "Rosalin", "Pink Elegance", "Tropic Blend", "Piton", "Winter Queen", "Savannah", "Primrose" and many others. They are propagated by tissue culture and by seeds.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Gerbera jamesonii 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.