EVERLASTING is any one of a number of plants whose flowers keep both their color and shape long after they have been picked and dried. Most of them belong to the composite family. Some of them, such as the globe amaranth, belong to the amaranth family. The wild pearly everlasting grows in North America. It is a small plant found on sunny, dry hillsides and in open woods. Its straight, leafy stems are covered with soft wool. Its flowers grow in many branched clusters. In southern France great quantities of immortelles, another type of everlasting, are grown. These are woven into wreaths for decorations or winter ornaments. Immortelle flowers are deep yellow, but they can be bleached white or dyed in different colors.
Other kinds of everlastings are found under the name of strawflower. This name is given because of the straw like blossoms. They are often an inch or more across. If picked before fully mature and dried, they may appear fresh for a year or more. There is an Australian everlasting which bears both single and double flowers that vary in color. The everlasting of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, has silky white flowers.
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