From the center of each flower emerges a long initially orange, later coppery bronze style with a thickened magenta tip that is bent clockwise, giving the entire head the appearance of a whirling pincushion.

[2] The Catherina-wheel pincushion is an evergreen, initially upright, but later spreading shrub of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) high, that branches from a single trunk at its foot.

In the lower part, where the lobes remain merged when the flower has opened (called tube), is 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in) long, bulging somewhat at the side facing the center of the head, keeled, hairless at the base and with some powdery hairs higher up.

The lobes in the middle part (or claws), where the perianth is split lengthwise, are thread-like, coil back strongly on their base when the flower opens, and are covered with long soft hairs on the outside.

From the perianth emerges a style, that is initially orange, but later turns coppery bronze in colour, 7–8 cm (2.8–3.1 in) long, tapering towards the tip, growing strongly shen the flower opens and bending outward, the higher third bent clockwise at about a right angle.

[2] Scottish botanist and early plant collector Francis Masson was the first person on record who collected the Catherina-wheel pincushion, but only stating it was from the Cape region (Prom.

The species has a strong preference for moist situations, mostly growing on level sandy flats along the banks of year-round streams or in seepage areas with a gravelly underground of weathered table mountain sandstone.

[2] Across the distribution range of this species the climate is mediterranean, with an average annual precipitation of at least 1,000 mm (39 in), most of which falls during the winter half year.

Here, the ants eat the pale, soft outer layer called elaiosome, leaving the smooth and hard seed because it is too big to fit between their jaws.

The seeds so remain buried, safe from being consumed by rodents, and protected from the overhead wildfires that destroy most of the standing vegetation every one or two decades.