One of the beauties of the fynbos during the dry summer in the Cape, is the Red Everlasting. What we see at a distance glistening in the sun, are actually bright red papery bracts, holding more than 100 tiny white flower buds. They open from the outside, creating a purple ring. Deeper into the season, all of the centre will be purple/brown. The red bracts would have faded to variations of pink.
The “flowers” last for many years and it is not strange to see one plant with flowers of various colours ranging from magenta to white, depending on their age.
The flowers are used in potpourri for their colour, not for their smell.

Phaenocoma prolifera, or Cape everlasting, is a rigid, often single-stemmed fynbos shrub (up to 1.2m) endemic to the Western Cape, South Africa, featuring distinctive, minute, scale-like leaves on white, hairy stems. It is renowned for its large, long-lasting pink-to-red papery flowerheads (bracts) that bloom from spring to summer. 
Key Details
Common Names: Pink everlasting, red everlasting, Cape strawflower, rooisewejaartjie.
Structure: Densely branched, rigid shrub (30–60 cm up to 1.2m high) with white hairy stems and minute, knob-like leaves.
Flowers: Showy, terminal flowerheads up to 60mm in diameter, with bright, magenta-pink or red papery bracts that fade to grey/white.
Habitat: Common on dry, sunny sandstone mountain slopes in the fynbos biome.
Usage: Popular in dried floral arrangements and as an ornamental in sunny, sandy soil.
Conservation Status: Endemic to the Western Cape, generally considered to be of Least Concern. 
Characteristics
Flowering Time: Spring to midsummer (September to January).
Appearance: Often resembles a miniature Christmas tree with branches decreasing in length towards the top.
Unique Feature: It is the only member of the genus Phaenocoma.
Pollinators: Attracts various insects due to the large flowerheads.
(AI Overview)

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