Capeweed

Arctotheca calendula is a squat perennial or annual herb which grows in rosettes and sends out stolons and can spread across the ground quickly. The leaves are covered with white woolly hairs, especially on their undersides. The leaves are lobed or deeply toothed, arranged in a basal rosette and distributed along the stem, are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The leaf blade is 5 to 25 centimeters long and 2 to 5 centimeters wide, with the uppermost almost simple and obovate; the lower ones are pinnately lobed to lyre-shaped. The upper surface of the leaf is finely hairy, cobweb-like, and the underside is densely covered with white, tomentose or woolly hairs. The name 'Actotheca' comes from Greek words 'arktos' meaning 'a bear', and 'theke', which translates to 'a capsule' (or a 'case'); referring to the heavily fuzzy fruits. The species name 'calendula' may refer to its resemblance to the European genus Calendula that means 'little calendar', which derives from the Greek word 'kalendae', meaning 'the first day of the month', and could refer to its long-flowering span.

Inflorescence. Hairy stems bear daisy-like flowers with small yellow petals that sometimes have a green or purple tint surrounded by white or yellow ray petals extending further out from the flower centers. …

Arctotheca calendula is native to southern Africa in Lesotho and in the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape, where it thrives in Namaqualand, the Karoo and as far as the Cape Peninsula, where it is found in coastal areas on ruderal sandy soils, along roadsides, on old farmland, and on disturbed sites. It is naturalized in California, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile, and considered a noxious weed in some of those places.

It is cultivated as an attractive ornamental groundcover but has invasive potential when introduced to a new area. Growing best in full sun and hardy to moderate frost, the plant can reproduce vegetatively or via seed. Seed-bearing plants are most likely to become weedy, taking hold most easily in bare or sparsely vegetated soil or disturbed areas.