Species
+

Dimorphotheca sinuata DC.

African beauty, African daisy, African daisy, Buschige Kapringelblume (DE)

Climate known 70 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Dimorphotheca sinuata, the glandular Cape marigold, Namaqualand daisy, or orange Namaqualand daisy; syn. Dimorphotheca aurantiaca hort.) is a species of plant native to southern Africa. It is also widely cultivated as an ornamental and naturalized in parts of the United States, primarily California and Arizona.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dimorphotheca sinuata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Dimorphotheca

Dimorphotheca is a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae, native to southern Africa. is one of eight genera of the Calenduleae, with a centre of diversity in Southern Africa. Species are native to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Some species can hybridize with Osteospermum, and crosses are sold as cultivated ornamentals.

Text from Wikipedia, “Dimorphotheca”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
DC.
Native to
Cape Provinces, Namibia
Wild records
357 in range· 154 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Feb, mean day; nights 16 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
241mm/yr
4 wet months · peak Jun 37 mm (CHELSA)
Light
20–55DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to March in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 241 mm a year, wettest June at 37 mm, driest January at 7 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 55 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 2.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Acanthotheca dentata DC.; Acanthotheca integrifolia DC.; Calendula tragus Curtis; Dimorphotheca aurantiaca Hort.; Dimorphotheca calendulacea Harv. and 5 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to March in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (178 mm of 241 mm) falls in April to September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 14.0 °C against a yearly mean of 17.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: October to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 241 mm a year, wettest June at 37 mm, driest January at 7 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

241 mm a year at the habitat, 178 mm of it April to September. Wettest month June at 37 mm, driest January at 7 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 85 mm to 586 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 55 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 20 to 55 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 57).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 2.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 2.5 °C, the absolute minimum -1.2 °C, 4 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 6.4 °C in July (across the envelope cells 4.6 °C to 9.2 °C), warmest day 30.2 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 50 to 54% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 18 °C in Jul to 30 °C in Feb; mean night from 6 °C in Jul to 16 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 241 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 241 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -1.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)-1.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 20–55RH 50–54 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 241 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C30 / 25–3330 / 25–3329 / 24–3125 / 22–2821 / 19–2418 / 16–2118 / 16–2119 / 16–2222 / 18–2525 / 21–2827 / 22–3028 / 24–32
Night °C16 / 14–1716 / 15–1815 / 14–1713 / 11–1410 / 8–127 / 5–106 / 5–97 / 5–109 / 7–1111 / 9–1313 / 11–1414 / 13–16
Rain mm7 / 4–247 / 4–2413 / 7–3222 / 12–4832 / 6–6637 / 5–8336 / 5–9231 / 4–7120 / 4–5015 / 5–3611 / 4–2910 / 3–29
DLI55 / 53–5650 / 47–5141 / 39–4331 / 28–3424 / 20–2720 / 17–2422 / 18–2527 / 24–3136 / 32–4045 / 42–4852 / 49–5455 / 53–57
RH %51 / 45–6051 / 46–6050 / 47–6052 / 48–5953 / 47–5953 / 48–5853 / 47–5854 / 47–6053 / 47–6052 / 46–5951 / 46–5952 / 46–59

Each figure is the median across the 241 grid cells holding the 348 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2440:3980 (-32.025, 19.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -1.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 241 distinct grid cells holding the 348 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2440:3980 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -32.00_18.750, lapse-corrected +35 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 338 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Provinces, Namibia· introduced: Germany, France, Pakistan, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Arizona, California
Kew's description“annual” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-30.166, 17.799 · in the densest population, 193 records (54% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 357 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 154 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 188 km away. 1288 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 9 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 357 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Dimorphotheca sinuataDimorphotheca sinuataDimorphotheca sinuataDimorphotheca sinuataDimorphotheca sinuataDimorphotheca sinuataDimorphotheca sinuataDimorphotheca sinuata

Photographs: (c) Wynand Uys, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (6).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Dimorphotheca sinuata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Predicting competitive interactions between pioneer plant species by using plant traits
H. Rösch, M.W. van Rooyen, G.K. Theron (1997) · Journal of Vegetation Science
Germination of three Namaqualand pioneer species, as influenced by salinity, temperature and light
André de Villiers, M.W. van Rooyen, G.K. Theron, H. A. van de Venter (1994) · Seed Science and Technology
Dimorphecolic Acid Is Synthesized by the Coordinate Activities of Two Divergent Δ12-Oleic Acid Desaturases
Edgar B. Cahoon, Anthony J. Kinney (2004) · Journal of Biological Chemistry
(9R)-9-Hydroxystearate-Functionalized Hydroxyapatite as Antiproliferative and Cytotoxic Agent toward Osteosarcoma Cells.
Elisa Boanini, Paola Torricelli, Carla Boga, Gabriele Micheletti (2015) · Langmuir
Fruit polymorphism in ephemeral species of Namaqualand. I. Anatomical differences between polymorphic diaspores of two Dimorphotheca species
Karen Beneke, Irmgard von Teichman, M.W. van Rooyen, G.K. Theron (1992) · South African Journal of Botany
ANTHOCYANINS OF DIMORPHOTHECA (COMPOSITAE). I. IDENTITY OF PIGMENTS IN FLOWERS, STEMS, AND CALLUS CULTURES
Ernest Ball, Jeffrey B. Harborne, Joseph Arditti (1972) · American Journal of Botany
Insect pollination and seed set in four ephemeral plant species from Namaqualand
Claudia Ueckermann, M.W. van Rooyen (2000) · South African Journal of Botany
Natural occurrence of aBegomovirusonDimorphotheca sinuatain India
Savan K. Raj, M. S. Khan, S. K. Snehi, Susheel Kumar (2007) · Australasian Plant Disease Notes
Competitive effect and response of ten Namaqualand ephemeral plant species at two nutrient levels
H. Rösch, M.W. van Rooyen, G.K. Theron (1997) · South African Journal of Botany

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Dimorphotheca 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 65 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.