Helichrysum patulum is a grey-woolly shrub, an everlasting reaching 70 cm in height and often sprawls well wider than that.

It bears the Afrikaans common name of kooigoed (bedding material) as it serves well in that capacity. The soft, woolly foliage and stems that also repel insects clearly deserve this name. Once a big shrub is found before dark, it need not take long to prepare a comfortable place to sleep in the veld. Do check underneath who else may have chosen to sleep there!

The distribution of H. patulum is from the Cape Peninsula along the south coast to around Great Brak River. 

The habitat is coastal scrubland, fynbos and dunes on sandy and limestone flats and slopes. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).