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Osteospermum moniliferum
Also called Boneseed, Brotherberries, Bush Tickberry, Sand Bietou
Bitou, also called boneseed, is an evergreen coastal shrub from southern Africa, growing to about 3 m with bright yellow daisy flowers and dark berry-like fruit. It is a serious invasive weed in Australia and New Zealand, so grow it only where it is legal and not spreading.
Osteospermum moniliferum (synonym Chrysanthemoides monilifera) is an evergreen flowering shrub or small tree in the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is native to southern Africa, ranging through South Africa and Lesotho to Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Most subspecies have woolly, dull, serrate, oval leaves, but the subspecies rotundatum has glossy round leaves. Subspecies are known as boneseed and bitou bush in Australasia, or bietou, tick berry, bosluisbessie, or weskusbietou in South Africa. The plant has become a major environmental weed and invasive species in Australia and New Zealand.
Osteospermum moniliferum occurs naturally in coastal areas of South Africa, reaching into Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and southern Mozambique. Subspecies rotundatum is concentrated along the eastern coast of South Africa from its southern tip through KwaZulu-Natal to southern Mozambique. Subspecies moniliferum is concentrated around Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula on South Africa's south western coast, where its native habitats include the Cape Flats Dune Strandveld. Subspecies canescens is native to Kwazulu-Natal, the Northern Provinces, and Free State of South Africa and to Lesotho. Subspecies septentrionale is native to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and the Northern Provinces.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Osteospermum moniliferum 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.
