Actinotus helianthi, known as the flannel flower, is a common species of flowering plant native to the bushland around Sydney. It was named and first described by the French botanist Jacques Labillardière in his "Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen" the first general flora of Australia. According to historian Edward Duyker Labillardière could not have collected the type specimen personally and might have received it from Jean-Baptiste Leschenault de La Tour botanist on the expedition of Nicolas Baudin or another early French visitor to New South Wales.