Plants in Israel | Gazania rigens

Gazania rigens, Treasure flower,
גזניה ריגנס ,פרח הסתדרות, Histadrut flower/Union flower

Scientific name:   Gazania rigens (L.) Gaertn.
Common name:   Treasure flower, Yellow Trailing Gazania
Hebrew name:   גזניה ריגנס ,פרח הסתדרות, Histadrut flower/Union flower
Family:   Compositae / Asteraceae, מורכבים


Life form:   Short lived perennial
Stems:   Up to 40 cm long; short creeping aboveground stems; simple or sparsely branched
Leaves:   Elongated entire to deeply lobed leaves, green or greyish upper surfaces, whitish hairy undersides
Inflorescence:   Solitary; a daisylike inflorescence composed of disk flowers in the centre surrounded by marginal ray flowers; Flowers do not open in low light; Require full sun for optimum bloom
Flowers:   7-10 cm flowers, disk flowers in the centre surrounded by marginal ray flowers, petals are usually bright orange to deep yellow with a black base marked with a white spot
Fruits / pods:   Cypsela yellowish brown, densely covered with long, upwardly directed, straight hairs; pappus of 2 rows of linear, acuminate scales, hidden by the long hairs of the cypsela
Flowering Period:   Spring, summer
Chorotype:   South Africa


Derivation of the botanical name:

Gazania, named in honor for Theodore of Gaza (1398 – 1478), a Greek-born Italian scholar and translator of the works of Theophrastus from Greek into Latin.

rigens, rigid, stiff.

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation Gaertn. is used to indicate Joseph Gaertner (1732 – 1791), a German botanist.

Histadrut Flowers (Union Flower) are up to 30 cm tall, open in the morning and close in the evening.