Helichrysum monticola

Helichrysum monticola is a perennial growing from a woody rootstock to heights from 30 cm to 50 cm. 

The leaves are lanceolate, broad or narrow, with upturned, entire margins. The upper leaf surfaces have a covering of glandular hairs and cobwebby, the lower ones are densely woolly. The branched stems are densely leafy, the leaves smaller than the lowermost ones forming a basal rosette.

The species distribution is in the east of South Africa, from the Eastern Cape and the Free State to KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, also in some neighbouring states. This specimen was seen north of Matatiele in East Griqualand.

The habitat is exposed rocky grassland slopes, mostly in the medium altitude regions of the Drakensberg, above 1500 m. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; iNaturalist; iSpot; JSTOR; http://redlist.sanbi.org).