The honey-scented Helichrysum populifolium flowerheads are about 3 mm in diameter. The outer bracts become pale brown, in picture still grey-green, the inner ones nearly white and round-tipped.

The initially white to pale yellow disc florets are five-lobed. The brown bits in picture may be shrivelled styles of the bisexual florets (Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist; http://pza.sanbi.org).