Family Asteraceae
Felicia dubia is an
erect annual growing 50–400 mm high. The oblanceolate leaves are sparsely
toothed and hairy.
The flowerheads with blue ray florets and yellow disc
florets are borne singly on a hairy stalk. These flowerheads are normally 25 mm
in diameter. The involucral bracts are arranged in three rows, with the outer
row shorter than the two equally-sized inner rows. Flowering is from July to
October.
Distribution and habitat
This species is common in the Western and Northern Cape, specifically throughout Namaqualand and in the Karoo, and extends southwards towards the Cape Peninsula.
This species is common in the Western and Northern Cape, specifically throughout Namaqualand and in the Karoo, and extends southwards towards the Cape Peninsula.
Habitats vary from gravel to sandy flats and slopes and
other rocky places.
Felicia dubia flowers are visited by a variety of insects and bees, any one of which could do the job of pollination.
Felicia dubia ,
like most or all annuals, has a very interesting lifecycle. It usually has a
short lifespan and because of this it invests a great deal of its resources in
reproduction. In years of good rainfall plants appear in high densities which
then results in the production of literally millions of seeds. Many of these
get buried in the seed bank.
Plants will germinate with sufficient rains and signs of a
general drop in temperature in autumn. This rain is also instrumental in rinsing
off chemical germination inhibitors from seed coats. It also aids in reducing
salt concentrations in the topsoil of saline soils. With this process now
underway, the species grows fast and produces flowers to attract a pollinator
(mid-winter to early spring). After the successful pollination, seeds develop,
are dispersed from early to mid-spring and are buried in the soil just before
the onset of unfavourable environmental conditions such as the harsh heat of
summer in which hardly any rain falls, except perhaps in the form of fog from
the cold Benguela Current. This winter or spring annual thus completes its
entire lifecycle in a single year by dying off just after it has shed a
plethora of seed for the following season.
It thus enables the survival of the species by ensuring it
makes best use of good conditions: germination in autumn with the first rains
or when the temperature starts dropping, only flowering when there is enough
rain available and then dispersing the hairy, tiny and dry seeds through strong
winds prevailing in the area.
No cultural uses recorded, but it is used in horticulture. Grow the species in a sunny position as a mass planting, in a mix border with other annuals or perennials. It can also be grown in pots.
