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Helichrysum orientale
Helichrysum orientale is a small, silver-grey, evergreen perennial shrub-like herb grown for its papery yellow everlasting flowers and downy foliage. It needs sun and very well-drained sandy or stony soil, and it dislikes rain and wet foliage.
Helichrysum orientale, also known as everlasting and immortelle, is the type species for the genus Helichrysum. It is a native of North Africa, Crete, and parts of Asia bordering on the Mediterranean. It is cultivated in many parts of Europe. It first became known in Europe about the year 1629, and has been cultivated since 1815.
Immortelle requires a light sandy or stony soil, and is very readily injured by rain or heavy dews. It can be propagated in quantity by means of offsets from the older stems. The flowering stems are gathered in June, when the bracts are fully developed, all the fully expanded and immature flowers being pulled off and rejected. A well-managed plantation is productive for eight or ten years. The plant is tufted in its growth, each plant producing 60 or 70 stems, while each stem produces an average of 20 flowers. About 400 such stems weigh a kilogramme. A hectare of ground will produce 40,000 plants, bearing from 2,400,000 to 2,800,000 stems, and weighing from 5½ to 6½ tons (2½ to 3 tons per acre).
The natural flowers are commonly used for garlands for the dead, or plants dyed black are mixed with the yellow ones. The plant is also dyed green or orange-red, and thus employed for bouquets or other ornamental purposes.
Strawflower · Curry Plant · Helichrysum milfordiae · Licorice-plant · Red Everlasting · Cape Gold · Yellow amaranth · Strawflower · Jersey cudweed
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Helichrysum orientale by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
