Curry plant
Helichrysum serotinum
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The silver subshrub that smells intensely of curry when touched, and whose yellow heads dry without losing colour, standing all winter.
Dunes and sand · Scrubland · Roadsides and waste ground · Uplands
Also known asItalian strawflower, immortelle
How to tell it
Very narrow, nearly linear leaves covered in dense white hair giving the plant a uniform silver tone. Small golden yellow heads gathered in dense corymbs at the top. The smell is the test: strong, warm and unmistakably curry, and it stays on the fingers.
What it is confused with
Everlasting
Helichrysum stoechas
They are very close and both are scented. This has narrower leaves and a clearly curry-like smell; everlasting smells more of honey and resin. Neither is harmful.
Open sheet →What it is for
Used in traditional infusions and its essential oil is prized in perfumery. The name curry plant comes from the smell, not the use: it is not the curry of Indian cooking and the taste is bitter and resinous. Traditional use, in the past.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.