The genus Gazania is named after Theodore of Gaza (1398-1478) who translated Theophrastus' botanical works from Greek into Latin. The specific name rigens means stiff, rigid, unbendable, perhaps referring to the acute, connate involucral bracts or the pappus scales. The variety name leucolaena was derived from Greek, literally meaning white cloak and refers to the white woolly tomentum (hair covering).

The genus Gazania belongs to the tribe Arctotideae, the subtribe Gorteriinae under the subfamily Cichorioideae of the family Asteraceae. It consists of about 17 species occurring mainly in Namibia and South Africa with one subspecies of G. krebsiana (subsp. serrulata ) extending to Angola and Tanzania and one variety of G. rigens (var. uniflora ) occurring also in southern Mozambique.

In the literature on garden plants and cultivation, there seems to be some confusion on the correct identity of the three varieties of G. rigens. The following descriptions provide some guidelines to the correct identification of the three varieties:

var. rigens :  Leaves glabrous above, rays golden yellow to orange with black spot (eye) near base of each floret; heads large, when fully expanded 40-80 mm in diameter; involucre cup-shaped, 10-15 mm long (high). This plant is not known from the wild, but only from cultivated plants.

var. uniflora :  Leaves glabrous above, rays bright yellow without black spot near base, heads smaller, when fully expanded 25-40 mm in diameter across rays; involucre campanulate, 7-8(-10) mm long. This variety occurs from about Knysna in the Western Cape, all along the coast to the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland and also southern Mozambique.

var. leucolaena :   plants densely and softly white woolly-hairy all over, rays bright yellow without black spot near base, heads smaller, when fully expanded 25-40 mm in diameter across rays; involucre campanulate, 7-8(-10) mm long. This plant occurs only in the eastern part of the Western Cape and the western part of the Eastern Cape, along the coast.