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 rotundifolium (Gnaphalium rotundifolium, Helichrysum nummularium) – Roundleaf Everlasting

One of the most textural mountain everlastings, Helichrysum rotundifolium forms woolly rosettes and radiating flowering branches from a creeping woody stock – an excellent choice for growers who want that soft, silvery “alpine cushion” look with reliable seasonal flowering. In a trough or rockery, it reads as both rugged and refined.

This is a South African endemic perennial herb with a thick creeping underground stock and short decumbent-ascending flowering branches. Leaves are broadly elliptic to almost round in the rosette, densely grey-white woolly. The heads usually appear in small terminal clusters surrounded by leaves; the bracts create a nuanced colour effect with pale brown outer series webbed together with wool, and inner bracts sometimes purplish above the stereome, finishing in opaque white, crisped tips that radiate. Flowering is mainly November to January.

Its natural range is in South Africa’s southwestern and southern Cape mountains, from the Great Winterhoek area near Tulbagh through the Cape Peninsula and east across ranges including the Langeberg and Swartberg to mountains near Uniondale (about 650–1,800 m). Internationally, it suits Mediterranean and cool-temperate rock gardens where winter moisture and summer drainage can be balanced. Uses are primarily ornamental (rockeries, gravel beds, troughs) and for dried everlasting heads, with strong appeal to indigenous plant collectors because it’s a true Cape mountain species.