Southern Africa is an important distribution centre for the Asteraceae tribe Gnaphalieae as it houses 24% of the world’s species. More remarkable is that 75% of the Gnaphalieae genera in southern Africa and as many as 96% of the species are endemic. The genus Helichrysum is the largest genus of the tribe. Helichrysum (260 species) is also, after Senecio (310 species), the second largest Asteraceae genus in southern Africa, and is followed by Euryops (103 species), Felicia (98 species), Othonna (96 species) and Berkheya (93 species). Worldwide Helichrysum has about 585 species, occurring mainly in southern Africa and tropical Africa (260 species in FSA; 46 in FTEA). In other African countries there are 83 more species bringing the total for Africa to 389. Madagascar has the next highest number of 117 species, while the whole of Europe and Asia have 75 species. Tips to use the key and traps to avoid: Upon opening the key there will be four blocks on the screen (two rows and two columns): in the left column the features (characters and character states) and in the right column the entities (species). By choosing character states (click on the state), one eliminates species from the list that do not possess that state. Selected characters and discarded species will appear in the lower blocks. Continue selecting character states until you are left with one or a few species in the top right hand block. Each species has a thumbnail image attached to assist with quick visual assessment but for more information (distribution map, descriptive text, photographs), open the Fact Sheet. You can also browse the Fact Sheets to learn more about the genus. You can start with any character, but we recommend you start with the most obvious character, e.g. colour of involucral bracts, plant height, leaf shape (if distinct) or any other obviously striking character that you can describe with certainty. Then move on to the other characters. Although ‘Flowering time’ and ‘Distribution’ are very useful characters to narrow down an initial search, it is important to keep in mind that the specimen at hand may have a new distribution or flowering record and could be eliminated. The key has been designed primarily as an identification tool but it is also useful to assist with the compilation of a checklist for a province or biome, a list of species flowering in a specific month, a list of annual species, or any other combination of characters you can think of. Make sure you have the correct genus by reading the part on Related Genera. Not all the ‘everlastings’ belong to Helichrysum.