Calostephane divaricata – Wing-stemmed Daisy / Winterveld-madeliefie

Synonyms include Calostephane foliosa, Calostephane schinzii, Calostephane divaricata var. schinzii, Calostephane eyelesii and Calostephane setosa.

This cheerful yellow daisy is a tough, sun-loving annual from the hot, dry parts of southern Africa. Known in English as wing-stemmed daisy and in Afrikaans as Winterveld-madeliefie, it brings a real veld feeling into the garden, with masses of small golden flower heads held above fresh green, winged stems. It is ideal for gardeners who want something different from the usual bedding daisies and who value indigenous, water-wise species.

In nature Calostephane divaricata is widespread across the drier regions of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and South Africa, reaching our Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

It typically grows in open woodland and on poor, often rocky or sandy soils, especially in hot, low-lying areas. Plants form a freely branched, rough-textured herb up to about 1 m tall, with slightly fluted, narrowly winged stems. The alternate leaves are ovate to lanceolate or almost linear, thin-textured and softly velvety to nearly hairless, with rounded teeth along the margins and the leaf bases tapering into narrow “wings” that run a short way down the stem.

The flower heads are carried at the tips of the branches in loose sprays. Each small “daisy” consists of bright yellow ray florets surrounding a golden centre of tubular disc florets, creating a soft, shimmering effect when the plants are in full bloom.

Flowering is mainly from late autumn through winter into early spring, roughly May to September in much of its range, depending on local rainfall.
As the season progresses the heads ripen into distinctive bristly seed balls, each fruit equipped with a double row of papery scales that help the seeds disperse on the wind – a bonus textural feature for naturalistic plantings.

In the garden, Calostephane divaricata is perfectly suited to low-maintenance, water-wise and veld-style plantings. Give it full sun and well-drained sandy or gravelly soil, and it will reward you with a long season of colour and a steady hum of visiting bees and other pollinators. It is an excellent choice for rockeries, dry borders, wildflower meadows, game farms and rehabilitation or farm roadsides where a tough, indigenous annual is needed. Sow in situ with the first autumn rains or under cover for transplanting once the seedlings are sturdy, and enjoy this unusual South African daisy lighting up the winter landscape.