There’s a reason Helichrysum has earned names like “everlasting,” “strawflower,” and “golden immortelle.” Across Africa, Eurasia, Madagascar, and even parts of Australia, this remarkable genus has adapted into an astonishing range of forms – from compact alpine cushions on windswept peaks to sprawling coastal pioneers on dunes, and tall, aromatic shrubs rising through savanna grassland. Many species seem almost sculpted for harshness: felted leaves that reflect heat, resinous scent glands that reduce water loss, and papery bracts that hold their colour long after flowering.

In southern Africa especially, Helichrysum becomes a signature of wild landscapes. Some species carpet high Drakensberg slopes like silver mats; others form tidy, upright tufts in montane grassland; and some are so specialised that they cling to cliff faces or root into shallow pockets of stony soil. The flowers, often arranged in tight button-clusters or open daisy-like heads, glow in tones of yellow, cream, white, pink, copper, red, and rose – and in many species the “petals” are actually brilliantly coloured bracts that preserve their beauty even when dried.

Beyond their ornamental appeal, Helichrysum carries deep cultural importance. Many species are traditionally used for fragrance, medicinal preparations, ceremonial burning, and as protective plants. For modern growers, they offer the irresistible combination of wild provenance, drought resilience, and striking textures – a true collector’s genus, equally suited to naturalistic gardens, rockeries, alpine troughs and habitat restoration planting.

Helichrysum praecurrens – Basotho Everlasting; Basoeto-Kooigoed

For alpine-plant lovers, Helichrysum praecurrens is pure gold: a densely tufted, mat-forming perennial that creeps and roots as it goes, then sends up countless tiny, closely leafy branchlets only about 20 mm high. From above it can look like a miniature field of silvery rosettes – tight, neat, and irresistibly collectible.

This species is a true high-mountain species, indigenous to South Africa, forming dense mats on the high Lesotho mountains and the summit of the high Drakensberg along the KwaZulu-Natal – Lesotho border, always above roughly 3,000 m where conditions are cold, windy, and exposed.

It flowers from November into early December, carrying comparatively large solitary heads for such a small plant; the outer bracts are palest brown while the inner bracts extend well beyond the flowers and appear white, sometimes tinged or tipped rose-pink. In gardens it shines in alpine troughs, crevice beds, and cool-climate rockeries where a tight, weatherproof groundcover with refined “everlasting” heads is the whole point.