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Arctotis venusta

Arctotis venusta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Arctotis
Species:	A. venusta
Binomial name
Arctotis venusta Norl. (1965)

Arctotis venusta is a species of South African plants in the family Asteraceae. Common names include silver arctotis, kusgousblom, and blue-eyed African daisy. It is native to South Africa (Cape Provinces, Free State, and Northern Provinces), Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.^[1] The species is widely cultivated as an ornamental, and has become naturalized in parts of the United States (California, Arizona, South Carolina),^[2][3] Australia,^[4] and Central and South America,^[5] where it has escaped from gardens to become a noxious weed.^[6]

Arctotis venusta is grown as a ground cover because of its silvery foliage and showy flower heads. It is adaptable to many conditions and is sometimes used to control erosion. It is a perennial with stout, woolly stems and aromatic, violin-shaped, heavily lobed leaves. The flower heads have many creamy-white to pink or bronze ray florets with lavender to reddish undersides and centers filled with purple disc florets. The fruit is a hard achene with a tuft of plumelike hairs on one end and an array of pappus scales on the other.^[7]

The species is sometimes regarded as the same species as the rare A. stoechadifolia, but authors separate the two as distinct species.^[7][2][6]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile
• African Plants Profile

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