Metalasia is a genus of African flowering plants in the pussy’s-toes tribe within the sunflower family, Asteraceae. Metalasia has some 54 species in South Africa, many of them found in the Western Cape. The name of the genus Metalasia is derived from ‘meta’ which can have many meanings, but in this case is intended as ‘reverse’, and ‘lasios’ meaning ‘woolly’, an allusion to the woolly reverse sides of the leaves.

Metalasia densa commonly known as Blombos is a South African indigenous species from the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Western Cape Provinces. It grows into an erect shrub of up to 2 meters tall. It has small leaves. During winter it bears gorgeous flowers of which the outer flower bracts are brownish while the inner bracts are white to red.