Strawflower (সুর্যভক্তি ফুল)

Common Name :	Strawflower, Paper daisy, Everlasting Daisy, etc.
Botanical Name :	Helichrysum sp.
Synonym :	Helichrysum bracteatum
Nepali Name :	Surya bhakti phul (सूर्यभक्ति फूल).
Family :	Asteraceae (sunflower family)

This is a very colorful vibrant lovely flower that mostly grows during the summer. This is a foreign flower that I have first seen at Nepal. Mainly this is a wildflower at Australia where it is native. But other countries are cherishing this as a garden flower. Botanical name is Helichrysum sp. from the plant family Asteraceae. The genus name is from two Greek words, helios meaning sun, and chrysos meaning golden. It's common name is Strawflower, Paper daisy, etc. I don't know any Bengali name for this flower, but in Nepal this is called Suryabhakti (सूर्यभक्ति फूल).

Strawflower is a very easy growing drought tolerant annual showy flowering plant. This herbaceous shrubby plant can grow around 3-4 ft in height. Leafs are dark green, slim and slender. This plant grows well at the sunny dry spot instead of moist, wet soil.

Flowers are too much showy and similar to the daisy flowers. It brings lot of colorful (red, orange, white, purple, golden, etc) flower during the blooming season, summer. The petals (some people say bracts) look like as if they are made from paper, that's why it is also called as Paper Daisy flower. This flower contains less moister which makes it ideal for dying.

This Paper daisy flower can be propagated from it's seed or from the soft woodcutting. Also, as this plant can grow in tough condition, that's why it doesn't require any special care.