[5] It is an evergreen, climbing shrub with thick, thorny stems and drooping branches that are glabrous or sparsely hairy.

[citation needed] The crown tube is greenish, clearly angled, about 2 centimeters long, sparsely downy hairy, ribbed and points away from the flower stalk.

The tip is lobed five times and forms a short, spread, white or yellowish hem.

Tiny white flowers usually appear in clusters surrounded by colorful papery bracts, hence the name paperflower.

[7] The flowers are about 0.4 cm (0.16 in) in diameter (the pink petal-like structures are not petals, but bracts).

[citation needed] Being of medical importance, the infusion of the plant's tender leaves and bracts is used orally to treat gastrointestinal problems (diarrhoea, stomach pain), and respiratory conditions (asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, chest pain, fever, pneumonia, whooping cough).