Helichrysum felinum

Helichrysum felinum is a single-stemmed, soft, straggling shrublet reaching 50 cm in height. Whitish brown, erect and hairy branches are produced. The plants do not last more than a few years.

The simple, sessile leaves in picture are long and narrow, tapering to pointed tips. The green to yellow green blades are coarse above, whitish woolly to cobwebby below. Leaf dimensions are about 35 mm long and 5 mm wide.

Dense clusters of initially bright pink flowerhead buds are produced at the tips of erect stems. Small discs of yellow florets appear when the involucres part at the top of each head. The pink bracts fade to a pale cream or white. Flowering happens through spring and summer. 

The specific name, felinum, is derived from the Latin word feles meaning a cat, referring to the shape of the inflorescence thought to resemble a cat's paw. 

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula to the Little Karoo and the Eastern Cape to Kwazulu-Natal. The photo was taken near Greyton.

The habitat is fynbos, grassland and thicket in moist loamy or sandy slopes, often in disturbed places. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Moriarty, 1997; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://za.ispot.org.uk; http://redlist.sanbi.org).