Felicia amoena is a variably hairy, sometimes glandular, biennial or perennial plant, of about 25 cm (10 in) high, that is assigned to the family Asteraceae. It is somewhat woody at its base, roots at the nodes if these contact the soil, and has ascending branches. The leaves are oppositely arranged along the stems at and just above a branching fork, further up the leaves alternate. The flower heads sit individually on up to 12 cm (4+1⁄2+1⁄2 in) long stalks. They are 2–3 cm (4⁄5–1+1⁄5+1⁄5 in) in diameter and consist of about twelve to twenty five heavenly blue ray florets that surround many yellow disc florets. Three subspecies have been recognised, that differ in width of the leaves and the involucral bracts, the size of the heads and number of ray florets and in having glandular hairs. These can be found in coastal sands and inland areas in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa.[2] Flower heads can be found from June till October.[3]
Taxonomy and naming[edit]

As far as known, the first specimen of this daisy species was collected in 1826, where the road from the Potberg crosses the Breede River, by Cape Town organ player Ludwig Beil. It is now assigned to the subspecies latifolia. A plant collected by Johann Franz Drège at Riebeek-Kasteel, was described by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1836, who called it Agathaea stricta, is now assigned to subsp. stricta. The first specimen now assigned to subspecies amoena was collected from Hout Bay on the west coast of the Cape Peninsula by Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Krauss in 1838. It was described in 1843 by Carl Heinrich 'Bipontinus' Schultz, who named it Agathaea amoena. In 1865, William Henry Harvey, who was a lumper, sunk Agataea in Aster, creating the combination Aster amoenus. He distinguished a slightly different specimen, that had been collected by Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Pappe, and named it after him Aster pappei. Harvey further distinguished Aster elongatus var. spathulaefolius in the same publication. Finally Harvey regarded De Candolle's specimen as a variety that should be placed under Christian Friedrich Lessing's species Aster adfinis (now Felicia dubia), creating the combination Aster adfinis var. stricta. In 1948, the eminent South African botanist Margaret Levyns created the combination Felicia amoena, that is still in use today. In his 1973 Revision of the genus Felicia (Asteraceae), Jürke Grau distinguished three subspecies: F. amoena subsp. amoena, F. amoena subsp. stricta, and his new taxon F. amoena subsp. latifolia. The species is considered to be part of the section Neodetris.[2]

The species epithet amoena means "beautiful" or "pleasing" and is said to refer to the attractive flower heads.[3]