Helichrysum ecklonis

Helichrysum ecklonis, the large pink strawflower, is a perennial herb growing to about 50 cm in height. It forms a mat of ground-level leaf rosettes from multiple branching.

The leaves are oblong to elliptic, their tips pointed or rounded. The soft blades are often densely woolly on both surfaces, the woolliness affecting the colour range from pale green to grey. When they are not hairy on their upper surfaces, the three to five leaf veins may be visible. 

Erect flowering stems, covered in hairy leaves emerge from next to the leaf rosettes. A solitary, stalked flowerhead is produced per rosette during spring and early summer. The narrow, pointed involucral bracts are glossy white to deep pink, growing in several rows around and overtopping the disc of numerous yellow florets. Small, alternate stem-leaves hug the flowering stems.

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).