page_title: Helichrysum
section_title: Uses
hierarchical_section_title: Helichrysum / Uses
caption_attribution_description: English: Glass vial containing Helichrysum Essential Oil
context_page_description: The genus Helichrysum consists of an estimated 600 species of flowering plants in the sunflower family. The type species is Helichrysum orientale. The name is derived from the Greek words ἑλίσσω and χρῡσός.
  It occurs in Africa, Madagascar, Australasia and Eurasia. The plants may be annuals, herbaceous perennials or shrubs, growing to a height of 60–90 cm. The genus was a wastebasket taxon, and many of its members have been reclassified in smaller genera, most notably the Everlastings, now in the genus Xerochrysum.
  Their leaves are oblong to lanceolate. They are flat and pubescent on both sides. The bristles of the pappus are scabrous, barbellate, or plumose.
  The receptacle is often smooth, with a fringed margin, or honey-combed, and resemble daisies. They may be in almost all colors, except blue. There are many capitula and generally flat-topped corymbs or panicles. The corolla lobes show glandular hairs at the abaxial surface.
context_section_description: Several species are grown as ornamental plants, and for dried flowers. When cut young and dried, the open flowers and stalks preserve their colour and shape for long periods.
  Helichrysum italicum (synonym Helichrysum angustifolium) is steam distilled to produce a yellow-reddish essential oil popular in fragrance for its unique scent, best described as a mixture of burnt sugar and ham. The epithet angustifolium means narrow leaved. It is commonly misspelled as augustifolium.
caption: Helichrysum italicum essential oil in glass vial
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