Felicia
(from felix, happy; in allusion to the cheerful appearance of the plants). ORD. Compositae. A genus of about forty-five species of dwarf-growing sub-shrubs (rarely annual herbs), two of which are from Abyssinia, and all the rest from Southern Africa. Felicia is very nearly allied to Aster. Flower-heads radiate; ray-florets blue or white, the disk yellow; involucre hemispheric or broadly bell-shaped, with from two to a large number of series of narrow, imbricated, scarious-edged bracts. leaves alternate, entire or toothed. the shrubby species like cool greenhouse treatment, and flourish in sandy peat. Propagated by seeds; or by cuttings, struck in sandy soil, under a bell glass.
F. fruticosus (shrubby).* fl.-heads solitary, upon terminal, solitary, naked, very slender peduncles; ray-florets purple, linear, acute, with one or two serratures at the margin; centre florets yellow, tubular; involucre ovate-cylindrical, of several linear-oblong, closely imbricated scales. May. l. spreading, linear, approaching to spathulate, impressed with dots; margin quite entire and recurved. Stem woody, much branched in a zigzag manner. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Cape of Good Hope. (B.M. 2718, under name of Aster fruticosus.) F. reflexa (reflexed). fl.-heads red, white, terminal, closely resembling the common Daisy. Winter. l. ovate, sub-imbricate, recurved, ciliate. h. 1 1/2ft. to 3ft. Cape of Good Hope, 1790. Shrubby. (B. M. 884. under name of Aster reflexus.)