Greek dais — torch, referring to the shape of the flower head.

Shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite or alternate, entire and with prominent veins. Flower clusters in pinkish mauve woolly heads, with 3-6 prominent bracts that become woody with age. Calyx lobes 5. Petals absent. Stamens 10 in 2 whorls. Ovary superior with 1 chamber and 1 ovule. Fruit a drupe containing a black seed.

Grown for the attractive woolly pink flower heads and woody ornamental bracts that are prominent when the flowers have dropped.

2 species from Madagascar and S Africa.

Seeds or cuttings.

Rope is manufactured from the bark.

Tree or large shrub with pinkish mauve, woolly flower heads; flowers with 10 stamens.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Thymeleaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.