Interest in flowers/plants is as fascinating as herbs and other consumable plants. I will be exploring our native foliage as well as those considered exotic to our area. To start off our new series, we are going to look at the African Daisy!
The African Daisy! A beautiful rendition of the traditional yellow and white daisy. There are many different varieties of the African Daisy. The most common varieties are Osteospermum or Dimorphotheca. These varieties used to be very prevalent all over the place and were popular to plant. They were hardy, drought resistant and produced mass amounts of large blooms in various colors. However, due to their ability to rapidly reproduce as a ground cover, they became known as a nuisance or “Highway plant”. These are the very reasons they are so valued in various cultures such as the traditional medicines of Africa.
Medicinally, African Daisy’s are very useful! Most traditional uses and research have been for various skin conditions and skin wounds. The more common uses are shared with other varieties of Daisy such as being anti-inflammatory, Antimicrobial, and Antifungal. They are an astringent which helps to “bind the wounds together” better. There have been some studies that suggest the African Daisy may have properties that are also air-cleaning, anticancer, anti-proliferative, antimetastatic. This suggests that it will help with the symptoms of a cold, cough or stomach pain. “An in vitro study evaluates the anticancer activity of Gerbera jamesonii on A549-Adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cell line. Study showed ME of Gj possesses anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic activity on A549 and was nontoxic to lymphocytes.” (http://www.stuartxchange.org/AfricanDaisy)
In the spiritual aspect, the African Daisy is packed full of symbolism and uses to aid in the spiritual journey. They, energetically, have the ability to provide personal energy healing and fine-tuning by using, promoting and flowing through our divine alignment. Tess Whitehurst, author of the book The Magic of Flowers, says using the essence of the African Daisy in various ways, can help to boost spiritual healing, harmonize the energy of your home, and align with and intensify our magical energy/power. It is also a mood booster and a psychic and intuitive booster when added to your drinking water daily. Spiritually this flower is also considered a protectant as it can help those who fear the “dangerous invisible forces” that are out of our control.
Personally, I would love to plant a small field of these and reap the benefits not only of their beauty and health benefits but also their spiritual nature and gifts that nature has given them to bring peace and healing into our lives.
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