Mineral Wildflower Festival

What is the difference between the Treasure Flower and the Clumping Gazania?

While Gazania linearis (Treasure Flower) and Gazania rigens (Clumping or Trailing Gazania) look almost identical to the casual observer and frequently hybridize in garden settings, they can be distinguished by differences in their growth habit, stem structure, and leaves:

1. Growth Habit and Stems (The Quickest Indicator)

• Gazania linearis: This species typically forms a very tight, compact basal rosette directly at ground level. Stems are either entirely absent or extremely short. It primarily spreads via short, vertical underground rootstocks (rhizomes).

• Gazania rigens: This species develops longer, sprawling, or trailing stems (decumbent stems) that creep along the surface. While the clumping variety (Gazania rigens var. rigens) grows in mounded clumps rather than spreading as a wide-reaching mat like the trailing variety (var. leucolaena), it still produces true, elongated above-ground stems.

2. Leaf Arrangement and Surface Texture

• Gazania linearis: The leaves are held in a strict, fountain-like rosette rising directly from the ground. The upper leaf surfaces are usually a deep, smooth, glossy dark green.

• Gazania rigens: Because it produces elongated creeping stems, its leaves grow alternately or in dense tufts along the visible stems rather than strictly out of a single ground rosette. The upper leaf surfaces are generally lighter-colored, often exhibiting a silvery or slightly dull, hairy sheen.

3. Old Leaf Persistence

• Gazania linearis: Old, dead leaves dry up but persist, remaining tightly attached around the base of the crown at the ground level.

• Gazania rigens: Old dead leaves easily detach and rot away, meaning the trailing or clumping stems remain relatively clean.

4. Typical Flower Features

• Gazania linearis: The flower heads are slightly smaller (usually 2 to 3 inches across). The ray petals are most frequently solid, radiant yellow or orange, sometimes marked with a simple dark mid-stripe running vertically down each petal.

• Gazania rigens: The flower heads can grow exceptionally large (up to 3 or 4 inches across in cultivars). They are highly famous for displaying a dark, contrasting "ring" or basal blotch (often black, deep bronze, or dark purple with a tiny white spot) right at the base of the petals surrounding the central disk.

(Note: In most nurseries and escaped wild patches across California, the majority of plants found are F1 hybrids created by crossing these two species, meaning they often combine characteristics of both).