This key is essentially based on the floristic treatment of the genus by O.M. Hilliard in 1983: FLORA OF SOUTHERN AFRICA, Volume 33 Asteraceae, Part 7 Inuleae, Fascicle 2 Gnaphaliinae (First Part). Dr Hilliard has made a remarkable contribution to the knowledge of the southern African flora, specialising in KwaZulu-Natal flora, the Drakensberg flora and in plant families such as Asteraceae and Scrophulariaceae. Working specifically through the Helichrysum treatment, fills one with admiration and respect for a remarkable scientist. Thanks are due: To Julia Mnengwane & Julie Ready for painstakingly working through 13 510 specimens in the National Herbarium, Pretoria, to improve the quality of the database. And to many assistants before them who helped in various ways to gather, generate and quality-control information. To Julie also for identifying the many voucher specimens collected during all the photographic trips. To Elizma Fouch� for her assistance with the graphics and webdesign. To colleagues, friends and fellow botanists for their support and encouragement. To John Burrows in particular for introducing us to the Mpumalanga helichrysums. Indirect funding for training in LUCID was made available by the National Research Foundation, funding for an earlier version of LUCID by the Betty Moore Foundation, and funding of the African Plants Initiative project for specimen images by the Mellon Foundation. Funding for research, fieldwork and software was covered by SANBI. LUCID development team (in particular Matt Taylor & Kevin Thiele) for the training they provided in South Africa and the numerous questions to which they responded afterwards. And finally: to everyone who will still comment or contribute to the improvement of the key: THANK YOU!