Helichrysum appendiculatum stem leaves

The leaves of the ground level Helichrysum appendiculatum leaf rosette are bigger than the narrow ones in picture ascending steeply up the erect stems. The top ones reach the stem-tip inflorescences.

The stalkless upper leaves are dull blue-green, tapering narrowly to their mostly pointed tips. Some are eared near the base. The midribs are prominent on the visible lower surfaces, the whitish margins curving down. The soft blades are well covered in white hairs but the woolly stems are still whiter than the leaves.

These oblong to narrowly triangular, whitish woolly leaves earned the plant the common name of sheep’s ears everlasting and in Afrikaans as skaapoorbossie (little sheep's ear bush). It must be the lower leaves that brought the sheep into the picture, as the stem leaves are quite narrow for a sheep to hear either wolf or shepherd (Pooley, 1998; Trauseld, 1969; iNaturalist).