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Felicia aethiopica; photograph (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2025-06-15

Felicia aethiopica (Burm.f.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod ex Grau

African Felicia; Dwarf Felicia; Wild Aster

Asteraceae · Cape Provinces

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Felicia aethiopica (Burm.f.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod ex Grau: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Burm.fil.) Grau.

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Felicia aethiopica, photograph (c) Adele SL, some rights reserved (CC BY)Felicia aethiopica, photograph (c) Adele SL, some rights reserved (CC BY)Felicia aethiopica, photograph (c) Vladislav Isaev, some rights reserved (CC BY)Felicia aethiopica, photograph (c) Liezl van der Merwe, some rights reserved (CC BY)Felicia aethiopica, photograph (c) Liezl van der Merwe, some rights reserved (CC BY)Felicia aethiopica, photograph (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) 66 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.5°C
Record low 5.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
778mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
16–50DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes October to March (April to September at the habitat), read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Felicia aethiopica is a low shrublet of up to about 50 cm (1+2⁄3 ft) high that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has rigid, leathery, inverted egg-shaped leaves, with only the lowest pair set oppositely. It has flower heads with an involucre of about 8 mm (1⁄3 in) in diameter with bracts that each contain three resin ducts, and have one whorl of twelve to fourteen ray florets with about 11 mm long and 1½ mm wide blue straps surrounding many yellow disc florets. The plant is called wild aster or dwarf Felicia in English, and wilde-aster or bloublombossie in Afrikaans. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Felicia aethiopica", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Felicia

The name Felicia derives from the Latin adjective felix, meaning "happy, lucky", though in the neuter plural form felicia it literally means "happy things" and often occurred in the phrase tempora felicia, "happy times". The sense of it as a feminine personal name appeared in post-Classical use and is of uncertain origin. It is associated with saints, poets, astronomical objects, plant genera, fictional characters, and animals, especially cats.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Felicia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (552 mm of 775 mm) falls in April to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 14.6 °C against a yearly mean of 16.5 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Rain

775 mm in the median year at the habitat, 552 mm of it April to September. Wettest month July at 122 mm, driest month February at 28 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 577 mm to 1,091 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 778 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 775 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 53).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.5 °C, the absolute minimum 5.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 10.8 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 8.9 °C to 12.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.6 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -57 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Felicia aethiopica through the yearWarmest month February, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 10.8 °C; 775 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°32.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER5.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 16–50RH 59–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 54 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C22 / 20–2423 / 20–2522 / 19–2420 / 18–2218 / 16–2016 / 15–1816 / 14–1816 / 15–1816 / 15–1918 / 16–2020 / 17–2221 / 19–23
Night °C17 / 16–1818 / 17–1917 / 16–1715 / 14–1613 / 12–1512 / 10–1311 / 9–1211 / 9–1212 / 10–1313 / 12–1415 / 14–1616 / 15–17
Rain mm31 / 24–5928 / 22–5137 / 29–6970 / 57–8987 / 41–135111 / 39–172122 / 40–18896 / 58–15166 / 39–10352 / 41–8641 / 32–7434 / 25–65
DLI50 / 47–5344 / 41–4735 / 33–3826 / 25–2719 / 18–2016 / 15–1717 / 16–1923 / 21–2430 / 30–3239 / 38–4247 / 45–4950 / 47–53
RH %62 / 59–6463 / 59–6463 / 60–6562 / 60–6461 / 57–6360 / 55–6159 / 55–6161 / 58–6261 / 60–6261 / 60–6261 / 59–6362 / 59–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 54 grid cells holding the 200 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2488:3984 (-34.425, 19.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 54 distinct grid cells holding 200 of the 200 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2488:3984 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.50_19.375, lapse-corrected -57 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 74 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Provinces · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-34.085, 18.411 · in the densest population, 204 records (80% of those in range)
Kew's description“subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 254 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 200 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 75 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 43 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 54 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 8272714 (Felicia aethiopica (Burm.f.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod ex Adamson & T.M.Salt, 1950): Kew's file holds it as Felicia aethiopica (Burm.f.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod ex Grau (accepted); 1 record, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 254 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Felicia aethiopica, photograph 1did not loadFelicia aethiopica, photograph 2did not loadFelicia aethiopica, photograph 3did not loadFelicia aethiopica, photograph 4did not loadFelicia aethiopica, photograph 5did not loadFelicia aethiopica, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Adele SL, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Vladislav Isaev, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Liezl van der Merwe, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Elegia stipularis Elegia stipularis Cushion Goldreed Photo: CC BY-SA, Brian du PreezPhylica ericoides Phylica ericoides Rhamnaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dave UChaenostoma hispidum Chaenostoma hispidum Bristle Skunkbush Photo: CC BY, Cricket RaspetLobelia comosa Lobelia comosa Cluster Lobelia Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloLampranthus bicolor Lampranthus bicolor Aizoaceae Photo: CC BY, Adele SLColeonema album Coleonema album Cape-May Photo: CC BY, Justin Ponder

Other Felicia 14 in the reference

Felicia amelloides Felicia amelloides Blue marguerite Photo: CC BY, Jared Zachary HermanFelicia amoena Felicia amoena Soft Felicia Photo: CC BY, Christiaan ViljoenFelicia bergeriana Felicia bergeriana Kingfisher daisy Photo: CC BY-SA, Noeleen du ToitFelicia echinata Felicia echinata Dune Felicia Photo: CC BY, Glynn MorrisFelicia elongata Felicia elongata Saldanha Bay Daisy Photo: CC BY-SA, Brian du PreezFelicia erigeroides Felicia erigeroides Michaelmas Felicia Photo: CC BY, Andreas De BeerFelicia filifolia Felicia filifolia Fine Felicia Photo: CC BY-SA, Nicola van BerkelFelicia fruticosa Felicia fruticosa Bush Felicia Photo: CC BY, Cricket RaspetFelicia heterophylla Felicia heterophylla Pureblue Felicia Photo: CC BY, Diana StuderFelicia muricata Felicia muricata Pale Felicia Photo: CC BY-SA, Brian du PreezFelicia petiolata Felicia petiolata Lesotho Felicia Photo: CC BY-SA, yakovlev.alexey from Moscow, RussiaFelicia rosulata Felicia rosulata Natal Felicia Photo: CC BY-SA, Steve Law all 15 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
(Burm.f.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod ex Grau
Native to
Cape Provinces
Wild records
254 in range · 75 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 5401139 is Felicia aethiopica (Burm.fil.) Grau; the page links Kew's Felicia aethiopica (Burm.f.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod ex Grau, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record of GBIF's key 8272714, Felicia aethiopica (Burm.f.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod ex Adamson & T.M.Salt, 1950 (Kew's file holds it as Felicia aethiopica (Burm.f.) Bolus & Wolley-Dod ex Grau (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 20 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (19 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.50_19.375, lapse-corrected -57 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 8 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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