Helichrysum milfordiae carpet

This is not Persian but still a colourfully patterned carpet of note. Helichrysum milfordiae leaf rosettes, some holding flowerheads, spread gradually into a live carpet on the mountain. Maybe there will one day be oriental carpets following this look.

The closed flowerhead buds are cone-shaped to top-shaped until they open. The bigger, dark red buds in picture already have involucral bracts in outer rows veering away from their cones. This in preparation for the moment of emergence of the disc florets hidden in the head. The buds are still stalkless here, the open flowerheads sure to rise a bit on short stems later. Maybe the stems increase the chances of florets being pollinated at the slightly more "hopeful" height.

Dead leaves can be spotted between some leaf rosettes of this plant. Even failed or finished off rosettes are present here and there. They remind what old age can do to an everlasting plant living independently on the mountain (Manning, 2009; iNaturalist; www.keys.lucidcentral.org).