Helichrysum dasyanthum is a straggling, woolly green shrub that may grow to 1,5 m and spreads wider than that. Stems branch much; the young ones tend to be erect. The leaves are narrow, woolly and grey with their margins rolled under.

The species distribution is a broad strip of land along the Western Cape and Eastern Cape south coast, as well as in the west, northwards to Namaqualand. In addition there is a small, discrete area in southern Namibia, just north of the Richtersveld where a population of this species grows (Manning, 2007).