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Osteospermum is the name of a genus of plants which can be found growing in the wild in South Africa. The temperature in these parts does not drop much below freezing in winter. Osteospermum is not therefore winter hardy in northern Europe. The species of Osteospermum growing in the wild occur both as annuals and perennials. These species, around 45 in number, are herbs or small bushes with brilliantly coloured marguerite-like composite flowers that can almost smother the plant. The leaves are relatively small and a glossy dark green in colour. In Danish they are called "spansk marguerit" ("Spanish daisy"), but in actual fact they are more properly known as African daisies or Cape daisies since they hail from South Africa.
The Osteospermum genus is a member of the Compositae family, whose members are characterised by their many tiny flowers located in a capitulum, i.e. on a compact, horizontally enlarged flat axis. The flower of a sunflower is a large capitulum. The inflorescence of an Osteospermum, the capitulum, is similarly constructed. At its extremities it has a ring of small ray flowers with a ligulate petal which form the brilliantly coloured rays in the inflorescence. Inside the capitulum are the so-called disk florets. Together these form the yellow, orange or dark violet eye of the inflorescence.
The species O. ecklonis provided the basis for the first cultivated varieties used as bedding. In the 1980s only two varieties were being sold in Denmark - one with white flowers and one with pink ones. Today you can choose from more than 100 different varieties, available in a broad range of colours and forms.
