• You are here:
• Full Key
• All other flowering non-woody plants
• Daisies, goldenrods, and other aster family plants
• Arctotis stoechadifolia

Arctotis stoechadifolia — African-daisy

Facts

African-daisy is a perennial often used in horticulture as a ground cover. It forms a silver-grey carpet of woolly leaves. In Massachusetts African-daisy may be found in sandy soils of waste areas and railroads.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats)

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bases of bract appendages

  NA

  Bract color

  the bracts are not colored or tinged with with pink, red or purple

  Bract cycle number

  there are three or more cycles of bracts

  Bract outer side hair type

  • the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces, with curled, tangled, matted, or woolly hairs
  • the bracts are hairy, with simple hairs on their outer surface

  Bract outer side hairs

  the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces

  Bract separation

  the bracts appear completely unconnected to one another on all flower heads

  Bract shape

  • the main bracts are lanceolate (widest above the base, then taper narrowly towards the tip)
  • the main bracts are linear (long and very narrow)

  Bract tip color

  the tips are a different color from the center of the bract

  Bract tip extension appearance

  the projections from the bract tips are simple, but may be a different color than the bract

  Bract tip extension edge

  there are projections from the bract tips

  Bract tip orientation

  the bracts are pressed against the plant, or spreading out at the tips

  Bracts

  the bracts in separate cycles are similar or gradually changing from the outer to inner cycles

  Disk flower color

  • blue to purple
  • green to brown
  • yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  5

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  the disk flower has both pollen- and seed-producing parts

  Flower head number

  each flowering stem has only one to three flower heads on it

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, each flower has a single enlarged lobe or strap

  Flower head platform

  the base has no bristles or papery scales

  Flower head platform surface

  NA

  Flower head position

  each of the flower heads is separate on its own peduncle (stalk), not clustered in groups

  Flower head profile

  the disk is flat or nearly flat across the top

  Flower head shape

  • the flower head is hemispherical (like the bottom half of a sphere)
  • the sides of the flower head are roughly parallel, like a cylinder

  Flower head width

  40–70 mm

  Flower type in flower heads

  the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  the flower heads grow in clusters from the axils of the branches or leaves

  Inflorescence stem

  hairs are present on the stem of the inflorescence

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary has five or more corners in cross-section

  Ovary hair type

  the ovary has hairs on it, but the hairs have no glands

  Ovary hairs

  the ovary has hairs on it

  Ovary lines or ribs

  • there are four to six lines or ribs visible on the ovary
  • there are three lines or ribs visible on the ovary

  Ovary profile

  in profile, the ovary is roughly egg-shaped, but widest above the middle

  Ovary wing number

  3-5

  Peduncle hair type

  the hairs on the peduncles appear tangled or woolly

  Peduncle hairs

  the peduncles are hairy

  Peduncle length

  60–300 mm

  Ray flower color

  • blue to purple
  • white
  • yellow

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  the ray flowers have carpels or stamens, but not both

  Ray flowers

  • 16-25
  • 26-50

  Ray length

  15–35 mm

  Reproductive system

  some of the flowers on the plant have only carpels or stamens, while others have both carpels and stamens

  Scale tip

  NA

  Style branch number

  the style has two branches

  Style branches

  the style branch is wider at the tip and has a flattened end, or the style branches are wider at the tips and have flattened ends

  Width of flower head base

  10–25 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Number of pappus parts

  • 5
  • 8

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  2–3 mm

  Seed hair tuft bases

  NA

  Seed hair tuft color

  NA

  Seed hair tuft details

  NA

  Seed hair tuft length

  0.5–4 mm

  Seed hair tuft tips

  NA

  Seed hairs uniform

  NA

  Seed tuft scale number

  5–8

  Seed tuft type

  the pappus is made of flat scales that are not split or frayed at the tips

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  there is no plume, or the plume is made up of scales, awns, a crown, or a rim

• Glands or sap

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Plant lifespan

  • the plant is annual, it lacks evidence of previous years' growth
  • the plant is perennial, it shows evidence of previous year's leaves, stems or stem bases

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

• Leaves

  Final leaf segment length (compound lvs only)

  0 mm

  Final leaf segment width (compound lvs only)

  0 mm

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy

  Leaf arrangement

  • alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem
  • the leaves are growing only at the base of the plant (basal)

  Leaf blade base

  • the leaf has a distinct petiole
  • the leaf has no petiole

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow

  Leaf blade edges

  • the edge of the leaf blade has lobes, or it has both teeth and lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade hairs

  the leaf blade has tangled or woolly-looking hairs

  Leaf blade length

  50–200 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  the leaf blade is obovate (egg-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)

  Leaf blade tip

  the tip of the leaf blade is obtuse (bluntly pointed)

  Leaf blade width

  10–45 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the leaves are nearly similar in size, prominence of teeth, and length of stalks throughout the stem

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  • the leaves have leaf stalks
  • the leaves have no leaf stalks, but attach directly to the stem

  Leaf stalk length

  At least 40 mm

  Leaf tip extension

  NA

  Leaf type

  leaves are simple (lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Leaflet number

  0

  Specific leaf type

  • the leaf has a row of two or more lobes on each side of the central axis
  • the leaves are simple (lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  Massachusetts

  Specific habitat

  man-made or disturbed habitats

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Leaves on stem

  there is at least one full leaf above the base of the flowering stem

  Stem internode hair direction

  the hairs point mostly upwards to outwards

  Stem internode hair type

  • at least some of the hairs on the stem are tangled, matted or woolly
  • the hairs on the stem are plain, without glands or branches, and not tangled

  Stem internode hairs

  the stem has hairs between the nodes

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae