Helichrysum lineatum

Helichrysum lineatum is a much branched perennial with slender, felted stems, sparsely to densely leafy. The leaves are elliptic to oblong, covered in white, woolly, felted hairs.

Flowerheads grow solitary or in small clusters at stem tips. The upper leaves around the flowerheads form rosettes below the inflorescence. The flowerheads have compact clusters of tiny yellow disc flowers at their centres. The discs are surrounded by four rows of involucral bracts, looking brown and cylindrical on the plant in picture. The fruits are spindle-shaped achenes, just 1 mm in length.

The plant grows in high elevation grasslands of the Lesotho Maluti Mountains and KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Drakensberg. This plant was photographed in the north-east of Lesotho during January (iSpot; www.keys.lucidcentral.org).