432 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



numerous. Achene slightly hairy. Pappus-hairs not thickened upwards. 

 South Island : Kaikouras, Mount Torlesse, Otago. Fl. Jan. (Selago, a South 

 African genus of plants.) 



Helichrysum grandiceps (The New Zealand Edelweiss). 



A tufted herb. Stems 1 in. -7 in. high. Leaves closely imbricating, silvery- 

 white on both surfaces, | m -4 m - l n g. tips often recurved. Heads terminal, 

 surrounded with leafy bracts, white with wool. Florets numerous. Achene 

 hairy. Pappus-hairs slightly thickened upwards. South Island : mountainous 

 districts. Fl. Jan. -March. Very similar to the Swiss Edelweiss, differing only in 

 the rounder shape of the leaves and bracts. 



Helichrysum is a large genus, found in most parts of the 

 world. It includes the plants known as Immortelles, which 

 owe much of their beauty to the scaly bracts collected round 

 the flower-heads. These involucres may be snow-white, 

 golden-yellow, or rose-red. The sacred flower, which the 

 Greek pilgrims bring from Mount Athos, is H. virgineum. H. 

 arenarium is well known in the Rhine Valley. The genus is 

 closely related to Raoulia and Haastia on the one hand, and 

 to Gnaphalium on the other. The New Zealand species are 

 all endemic, and are usually divided into three sub-genera. 

 Sub-genus (1) Xerochlaena consists cf herbs with daisy-like 

 flowers ; (2) sub-genus Ozothamnus consists of shrubs, some- 

 times of a most extraordinary appearance, while the plants of 

 sub-genus (3) Leontopodioides much resemble the Swiss 

 Edelweiss, Gnaphalium leontopodium. H. grandiceps is the 

 Edelweiss of the Southern Alps. Probably the most 

 remarkable species of the genus is Helichrysum (Ozothamnus) 

 coralloides (fig. 124). It is a rare, sub-alpine rock-plant, with 

 thick, fleshy, closely appressed, overlapping, grey, shiny 

 leaves, which give the plant the appearance of being dead and 

 withered, though it may be in active growth. H. depressum 

 presents a somewhat similar appearance. The living plant 

 might readily be taken by the passer-by for a bush of leafless 

 twigs, that had been dead for months. In H. coralloides the 

 tips of the leaves are hard, brown, and scale-like, and suggest 

 strongly the appearance of the bracts of a pine cone. Indeed, 



