Gazania - flowers for the garden

The flower of gas is a spectacular and bright plant that resembles a daisy. Often it is also called "midday gold," since inflorescences open only at noon hours, and then only when the sun is shining.

A bit of history

This name Gazania received in honor of one Italian cleric Theodore of Gaza, who lived in the fifteenth century and became famous for translating the works of Theophrastus and Aristotle into Latin. The plant was brought to Europe in the middle of the seventeenth century. Gazania - flowers that are used in floriculture, and mainly grow a hybrid species, resulting from crossing several wild ones.

Description of the flower

Gazania - a flower that belongs to the family of Astrope, or Compositae. Homeland is South Africa, the region of Cape. In nature, they number about fifty varieties. This long-term low-growing herbaceous plant with a short stalk or lack thereof, growing on crushed, friable soils in desert areas with a high level of humidity at night. Gazania - flowers that from excessive evaporation in the heat save dense grayish-green or dark green with a silvery white fluff on the wrong side of the leaves. In addition, pubescence promotes the retention of moisture droplets. In these plants, the shape of the leaves is very variable and can be palpated, linear, elongated-lanceolate and pinnate. They are a radical rosette. The root is the core, which allows you to extract water from the depths in a dry time. Gazania - flowers collected in single large baskets of inflorescences, which reach a width of five to ten centimeters in diameter. On their edge are located in a single row of false-lingual flowers, which are sterile. They can have different colors depending on the variety and species, but the base of each is decorated with a dark spot that creates a ring-shaped thinly outlined pattern and gives a unique appeal to the inflorescences. In the center of the basket are many small tubular flowers of dark brown or dark purple. The formation of seeds occurs only in bisexual tubular flowers. An interesting feature of gazaniya: inflorescences are revealed only under the influence of sunlight. In cloudy weather or at night, the corollas of the extreme flowers are twisted in length and close to the central tubular. At plants hairy achenes with a tuft.

Triumph of Gazania

Gazania - flowers, which became very popular when breeders brought out strange varieties and hybrids, among which already there are also double forms. These plants have unusual and catchy inflorescences of all shades of red with sterile flowers in tubular form, which prevents them from withering prematurely. They are more plastic, better cope with cool weather, and in the morning buds open very early, in comparison with species. These varieties do not produce seeds, so breeding takes place only by cuttings.