Syncarpha argyropsis in summer

Normally grey, the leaves of Syncarpha argyropsis manage a greenish response to moisture. Summer is the dry season in the Cape, but the photo is from a year before the big drought. In those days gardens could be watered without constraint.

The leaf margins raised by folding or curving in are entire, ending in an acutely pointed tip. Leaf position is opposite and sessile, i.e. stalkless on the soft stems.

The flowerheads, quite dry in December well after the normal bloomtime, do not inspire the hope conveyed by the common name of everlasting. This name is generally given to plants of the genera Syncarpha, Helichrysum, Edmondia and Phaenocoma that bear flowerheads surrounded by whorls of dry involucral bracts.

The flowerheads are elevated above the leaves on longish, erect stalks (Manning, 2007; Mustart, et al, 1997).