Helichrysum ecklonis

Helichrysum ecklonis, the large pink strawflower, is a perennial herb growing to 50 cm. It forms a ground-level rosette or several from branching at the base.

The leaves are oblong to elliptic, often densely woolly on both surfaces. When they are not hairy on their upper surfaces, the three to five leaf veins are clearly visible. 

Erect flowering stems, covered in hairy leaves emerging from the leaf rosette centres, produce solitary flowerheads in spring and early summer. The narrow, pointed involucral bracts are glossy, pink or white, growing in several rows around and above yellow disc flowers.

The distribution of H. ecklonis is widespread in the east of South Africa, from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the east of the Free State to Mpumalanga, as well as Lesotho. This plant was photographed in January in KwaZulu-Natal near the Lesotho border.

The habitat is largely grassy slopes from the coast to the Drakensberg. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; iSpot; http://redlist.sanbi.org).