Plant of the Month – December 2012

Satin Everlasting or Coast Everlasting

(Helichrysum leucopsideum)

One of our own! This native of South Australia is a perennial, growing about knee-high. Most perennial plants grow all year, but this one may die back to root stock in summer at Cape Jervis and other really dry places.

The flower heads appear in late spring to early summer, and like all everlastings, the flowers stay bright for quite a long time. The petal-like white bracts on the flowers have a satiny texture, hence its common name. These bracts spread out and bend backwards as the flowers age. The leaves are dark green on top, woolly underneath.

They like sandy or gravelly soils, dry places…and our coast. Look out for this one in the neighbourhood.

image. C. Schultz